The Morgenstern Legacy
by LolaMay101
Summary: She was hidden away for years. She didn't know who she really was or what really connected her. Now, at sixteen years old, Ronnie Morgenstern is about to learn the truth. She was forced from her home and placed under the care of Jace Herondale and his family. She wants to go back to her "mother", Lillith, but Jace hopes to change that. He has to or she'll die. T for themes/details.
1. Caged

**Hello people, lolamay101 here! So this is my new story. It's a character I made it up and from a future perspective but it has all the characters from TMI in it. Please give it a chance! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 1)

(Ronnie's POV)

I've known that I've always been different, ever since I could talk. I've always been a little bit strange but that didn't start magnifying until I turned sixteen years old. For my whole life I've lived in a controlled environment. I've seen the same four walls, the same people, the same everything. I lived with a woman I called Mom, Mom was almost never around but when she was she wanted to see me show off what I have learned. Who I really spent my time with were her workers, I worked with a man called Horace Dearborn, he taught me to fight.

I lived in a two-story house, on the country side. I've never seen anywhere else but that house. That changed one morning. I was in the yard training by myself, Mr. Dearborn hadn't been around in a couple of days so one of Mom's other workers, Oscar, was watching me. Oscar was a dark skinned, brute of a man, who merely rolled his eyes every once in awhile so he didn't really pay me any mind. I was using my sword to practice some of my skills, Heosphorous, my blond hair was flowing through the wind. My dark eyes watched the sword as I moved back and forth.

All of a sudden, I heard Oscar gasp and fall down. I whipped around, my black eyes landing on a group of ten figures dressed in black. Their gear was a lot like mine but mine was red. They had black marks all over them like Mr. Dearborn. "You killed Oscar!" I shouted, Mom prepared me for this if this ever happened.

"Woah! She looks like…." One of the older adults said, he was tall around six foot, all of them were tall like that. The group was made up of two women and four men.

The woman was older, she had greying hair but intelligent eyes filled with concern and awe. "Call the Herondales, in the meantime sedate her!"

"Yes Consul," a man said and three of them ran at me at once. That's when my whole world went black.

I slowly opened my eyes slowly blinking in the brightness of a room. I didn't recognize this place. I had no clue where I was, but I knew everything was white around me, even my clothing. Someone had traded my red gear out for a white gown. I tried to get up, but my hands were bound with metal to the sides of the bed I was. I quickly looked around, I was in what seemed like a cell with bars and hard flooring. Next to me was a table with instruments that would probably be used to torture me, Mom taught me how to get through pain without revealing anything.

The creaking of the cell door drew my attention to a hooded man coming in. I strained against my handcuffs trying to get free to defend myself. Mom always said if I was captured by our many enemies that I couldn't show fear. I had to show that I wasn't afraid to fight.

The man took off his hood revealing his amber/golden eyes and blonde hair. He was middle age, but he seemed to be in good shape. It looked like he had worked out every day of his life with the muscles and visible callouses he had.

"Hello," he greeted me, his voice coming out smoothly and confidently.

"Let me out of here before I kill you," I snapped at him, my dark eyes narrowing at him. I wasn't about to let him torture him or hurt me.

He raised his eyebrows at me, as he took a seat on the bed. I skirted away from him, my black eyes not leaving his face. "You can call me Jace," Jace informed me, he did not break eye contact with me. "This is very overwhelming for you." He said not leaving it up for debate.

"Take me back home!" I growled at him, I had to stay focused. Mom said that captors would try to take my attention off of what was really important. "I don't care who you are as long as you take me back."

Jace sighed running a hand through his golden head of hair. "I can't do that. But I can take your cuffs off if you promise not to kill me." He said looking at my face.

My mind began to run at a million miles an hour, if he let me free I could distract him and make a run for the door. I slowly nodded my head, if he thought I was cooperating then things would go a lot faster. I would also be keeping my promise, he never said anything about escaping.

I watched as he produced a key from his gear jacket pocket and stuck it in my handcuffs. He twisted the key a few times and the first cuff popped open, he did the same thing with the second one. As soon as the second one hit the railing of the bed I was out of the bed and running. I ran to the cell door and tried to rip it open, but it wouldn't budge. I shook it angrily several times when I heard Jace get up.

"It locks from the out and inside." Jace said standing in the center of the room near the hospital bed.

I began to pace in agitation, there was nothing I could do. There's no amount of training that could get him to let me out. Not when he was in control of my situation. I was growing frustrated, I ran a hand through my pale blonde hair in frustration.

"What's your genius plan then, huh? Keep me caged here like an animal?" I snarled defensively as I paced from one end of the cell to the other.

"Only if you act like one," Jace said almost cheekily which made me glare at him in turn. "But I don't want to do that. If we can have an actual conversation, then maybe you can come out of the cell."

I snorted, I knew what he was trying to do. I wasn't about to fall for it. "I'm not stupid you know," I said looking over at him, and he looked genuinely surprised that was my response. "I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to get me to trust you so you can get information out of me and then kill me. Mom told me you would do that." I snapped at him angrily.

Jace watched me as I paced, not responding for a minute as if he was pondering what the right route would be to deal with me. "No, I want to help you. I promise you that. If I really wanted that I could have let them kill you. Luckily for you, my wife and I have a soft spot for Morgensterns."

I paused, the name was foreign to me, what does he mean by Morgensterns? I reached for the ring that was usually around my neck but it was missing. I growled in annoyance as I stopped in front of him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, my name is Ronnie. I don't have a surname."

Jace simply shook his head in almost a condescending manner. "There is so much you don't know, Ronnie." He said trying my name out on his tongue. "Those black eyes are a dead give away. You're a Morgenstern."


	2. Freed

**Hello people, thanks for reading! I hope you like it! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 2)

(Ronnie's POV)

"I have black eyes, so what? A lot of people have dark colored eyes." I snorted with a cross of my arms.

This guy was delusional, he was trying to make something out of nothing. My eyes were dark, and that was normal. Everything about me was as normal as could be. The only thing that wasn't normal was Mom's work. That's why I could never leave the house because someone could hurt or capture me. I didn't even leave the house and they found their way to me.

Now this guy wanted me to think I was someone else. Mom always said that I didn't have a last name because she didn't want them to be able to trace me. I was just Ronnie not Ronnie Morgenstern, that wouldn't make any sense. That would imply Mom's last name was Morgenstern and it wasn't. Her first name was Lillith and her last name was Greater.

Jace looked at me with a shake of his head. "You look just like him, your father." He told me in a guarded voice.

My eyes glared into his, he was trying to play with me. "I have never met my father and my mother doesn't know who my father is. There's no possible way you can." I snapped at him angrily. I hated being lied to.

Jace pulled out a square looking box from his pocket and tapped on it. He saw my curious gaze and cleared his throat. "This is a phone, it can show pictures," he said as he swiped up and down until stopping. "Look at this, it might change your mind."

He turned the phone to me, and in the picture was a man in his early 20's. He had pale blonde hair, just like mine. He had black eyes, just like mine. He had a pale, almost translucent skin tone, just like me. He seemed to be scowling into the photo as if he was and wasn't aware that a photo of him had been taken. I turned away from the phone, I didn't want to look at it anymore and think of the wouldas, couldas, and shouldas.

"He looks a little like me, so what? That proves nothing." I said stubbornly jutting my chin out.

Jace simply sighed and put his phone away. "You can believe what you want but I know Sebastian Morgenstern was your father." He looked over at the door and produced some keys. "If you promise not to run and stay by my side, I will let you out of here. If you can't promise that I'll be back later."

I weighed my options in my head, I could either stay in here and rot or I could leave. Even if it meant staying with him for the time being. I could figure out what happened to all of my stuff if I could get out of this cell.

"Alright," I agreed with a sigh, I literally had nothing to lose here.

"Here, you need something better to wear if we're going to leave," Jace said handing me my red gear. I snatched it from him quickly feeling around my gear pockets and producing my ring in relief. "I'll turn around." He said tonelessly as he turned.

I watched him for a minute before I began to get dressed. I was quick to lace up my boots and adjust my clothing. I was comforted by the weight of the ring on my neck, it was my always. Mom gave it to me when I was six, she said it would protect me. It had an M on it with stars, she said she thought it might belong to my father but she wasn't sure.

"Okay," I said, tucking some of my blond hair behind my ear.

Jace turned and watched me for a moment before going to the cell door with me following close behind him. He opened the cell door that made an agonizing squeak. I took a step out behind Jace looking at the bone white walls around me. On the walls, names were inscribed but Jace was moving pretty quickly so I didn't have time to read them.

I couldn't contain my curiosity though, I had to know what this place was and its significance. "What is this place?" I asked him, my fingers skimming the walls as we walked.

Jace glanced back at me briefly as we walked. "The Silent City, it's where prisoners of the Shadow World are held." He said to me moved along another hallway.

I frowned at his answer, what did he mean Shadow World? Mom called the outside world the Shadow World. This is where the world kept all of its prisoners, it must be bigger than I imagined.

Jace led me to a tunnel that had a bright light at the end of it, I felt myself speeding up and walking right beside him. He didn't even glance at me as we came out of the silent city. I was immediately greeted by loud noise and something that sounded like a horn. "Where the hell are we?" I said over the loud noise.

"Welcome to New York City, Ronnie!" Jace said grinning as he began to walk.

I followed him with a sigh of irritation, where were we going? Why was there so many bright lights and loud sounds? I have never seen so much lively place. At home, things were quiet. It was usually just me and one of Mom's workers. Here? I could see people my age running around, old people, young people, babies, this place had everything.

I shook my head, I had to stay focused. I couldn't let my new environment distract me from getting back home. This world was….new and interesting but I wasn't safe here. Mom had made it clear if I ever left home I could be killed or worse.

I nearly bumped into Jace when we stopped in front of a grand building, it looked almost like an ancient castle from one of the books I've read. "What is this place?" I asked walking forward when he moved.

"This is the New York Institute," Jace said opening one of the huge brown doors as we walked into the castle. "This is your new home from now on, and before you ask no you can't go home. If you try to leave I'll know and the Clave will kill you and I won't be able to stop it. So don't leave alone." Jace said with a wave of his hand.

"Jace, there's no need to scare her." A woman's voice said from behind me.

I turned around to see a red haired woman, she flinched at my appearance as if I reminded her of someone. She was alone but I could tell more than Jace and this woman lived here. "Jace-"

"Ronnie," Jace interrupted the woman as if trying to prevent her from saying something. I mentally rolled my eyes at his antics. "This is my wife, Clary, Clary Herondale but her mother was a Fairchild and her father? He was a Morgenstern."

I scoffed at him trying to make me relate to something that I have already told him I'm not. "There you go again, trying to make me out to be something I'm not. I'm just Ronnie, I've told you. No matter what you say or do, you can't change that." I said forcefully, my dark eyes narrowing at him.

"As I live and breathe," another voice chimed in, I whirled around to see a man around my age with cat like, yellow eyes. "Ronnie Morgenstern."

"Here we go!" I said shaking my head, of course he was already trying to name me a Morgenstern. "My name is just Ronnie."

"And I'm just Magnus," he quipped back walking over to me, his eyes flickering around my face. "Magnus Bane, I've known you ever since you were very small."

"What in God's name are you talking about?" I snapped at him in frustration at the vagueness of answers.

"Magnus," Clary spoke up from behind me, but I saw Jace come over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Let him work Clary." Jace advised her with a shake of his head.

I would have snapped at them but Magnus had my attention. He began to speak again. "I think what you mean to say is for Angel's sake." Magnus corrected and grinned at how I glared at him. "This may seem strange, but I have been looking for you ever since you were born, Ronnie. I finally found where Lillith had stashed you."

"You know my Mother?" I asked Magnus with a frown, I was careful not to mention her name just as she taught me so there was no possible way Jace could have told Magnus.

"Yes, I know Lillith, but I don't believe she was your real mother. What I think is she stole you away when you were just a baby from the woman Sebastian loved. She raised you into believing that you were hers. Didn't you ever wonder why you never got to leave that house?"

I shook my head, I don't want to hear this. "You don't know anything about me!" I growled at him, I striked at him but then my world went dark.

(Jace's POV)

I watched as Magnus caught Ronnie's body as she fell to the floor. "And she's out," Magnus sighed as he adjusted her in his arms. "I'll put her in the infirmary."

"Magnus," Clary said drawing the attention of the warlock to her. "Is she dangerous...like he was?"

I watched Magnus carefully as he schooled his face. He knew that this was a very delicate subject for my wife. We were taking a big risk taking Ronnie into our home with our children. Luke was old enough to handle Ronnie if she attacked him but Tessa? She was only ten. Not to mention their cousins, James and Ramon, could maybe handle Ronnie but seeing the anger in her eyes told me otherwise. Magnus's and Alec's children definitely could, Max was a full fledge warlock and Raphael could handle himself just fine.

"Time will only tell. At the moment, I'm unsure but she will need to be watched closely." Magnus assured her with a sigh. "She doesn't know she's a Shadowhunter but that doesn't mean she doesn't have any training."

"She has training." I spoke up, touching Clary's shoulder gently. "They found her with his sword."

Clary looked at me, her green eyes were full of worry. "Jace, are we making a mistake?" She asked me in concern.

I thought for a moment looking to Magnus who nodded his head before leaving. "We saved her life Clary, the Clave was going to kill her. From what I can tell, she's innocent, angry, but innocent. But I would be to if I was forced from everything I've ever known. You heard Magnus, she hasn't even been outside of the property Lillith kept her on."

Clary sighed, leaning her head on my shoulder. "For some reason that doesn't make me feel any better."


	3. Haunted

**Hello, lolamay101 here, just wanted to say thanks for reading! Also thanks to the one person who reviewed, I was so excited when I saw that! Thank you! It made me smile knowing someone was really reading this story! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 3)

(Ronnie's POV)

I woke up with my hands bound to the side of yet another hospital bed. The last day and a half that seemed like the routine. I shook my head, who did they think they are trying to tell me who I was? Who did they think they are trying to tell me they knew who my father was? Only Mom could know that and even she wasn't sure.

I gritted my teeth in frustration, no one was listening. Or no one care enough to listen. They wouldn't let me go home, they wouldn't listen to me when I told them facts, and they were all delusional. I was so sick of this place and I hadn't even been here that long.

I looked around, next to my hospital bed there were a long line of other ones but they all were empty. This was almost just as bad as the cell but at least I wasn't surrounded by bars. I looked up at the bright ceiling boredly when the door swung open.

My head turned to watch as Jace and a man with black hair and blue eyes that I didn't know walk in. Jace was carrying plate of food and the other man had a glass of water in his hand. I watched them with a hostile gaze as Jace sat on the other bed next to me. He noticed I was awake and smiled.

"Good, you're awake." Jace said, his eyes not leaving my face. "I brought you something to eat. I don't want to treat you like a prisoner but if you attack my family or people I care about I will be forced to. So, here's what's going to happen." Jace said firmly, his golden eyes seemed to hold wisdom in them beyond their arrogant façade. "I'm going to get rid of the bonds around your wrists and you're not going to attack me or anyone else in this Institute. Otherwise, you will force my hand."

I watched him carefully, he seemed to be sincere in his words. So far, he hasn't hurt me or anything. He has knocked me out, but I know why he did so, or rather, Magnus did so. Even though that lying son of a bitch should have been beaten to a bloody pulp. I shook my head, I needed to stay focus on what was in front of me. I had to take things one thing at a time or otherwise I would get overwhelmed by all of this new information and go into shock. I couldn't go into shock now, I had to find a way out of here.

"I understand," I said simply, my eyes connected with the man behind Jace. He looked at me with disdain written all over his face. He looked like he wanted to kill me.

Jace nodded his head as he undid one bond on my hand and then undid the other letting the magical twine fall to the floor. I sat up and swung my feet around when I felt a blade being held against my throat. The man with the blue eyes looked at me with a hard gaze. "I don't think so," he said shaking his head.

"Alec, she's just sitting up. Relax," Jace said looking at the other man in amusement.

Alec scoffed at him as he retracted his blade and let me sit up silently. "I don't want to take any chances." He said firmly.

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed the plate from Jace, on the plate was a sandwich with some fruit on the side. I popped a strawberry in my mouth before sizing Alec up, I wasn't going to get out of here by brute force, so I had to charismatic. Mom always said I had a natural ability for that.

"I'm Ronnie," I introduced myself to Alec holding my right hand out for him to shake.

Jace looked surprised at this change in behavior but he didn't say anything. My eyes didn't leave Alec who didn't shake my hand but just watched me. I shrugged putting my hand down and popping another piece of fruit in my mouth. I didn't care he didn't want to shake my hand, what it showed was that it seemed like I was coming around, but I wasn't. As soon as they thought they were in the clear, I would take off running back home.

Once I finished my food, Jace cleared his throat. "We've set up an actual room for you, there's a change of clothes on your bed." He said, and I nodded my head, I didn't really care. "So, if you're ready, we can go now."

"Yeah," I said standing up and waiting for him and Alec to lead me out of the room.

They began to walk, with Jace in front of me and Alec behind me. I looked at the walls of the Institute, they were stone which was unique. This building was older than I thought, I turned down the hallway when they did. There seemed to be many winding halls in the Institute with lots of rooms but very few of them were actually filled. I found that strange. Why have this many rooms if you weren't going to fill them? Seems like a waste of time and space to me.

Jace suddenly stopped in front of a door and pushed it open. The room was a nice size, the walls were a dark blue and the bed spread was white. There was a white desk in the corner of the room by a window that I could tell had been latched a certain way, so I couldn't unlock it. There was also a bathroom and closet attached to the room. I looked over by the door way and there was a dresser and on the dresser was an almost identical outfit to the one I was wearing except it was black.

"We'll let you get changed," Jace said as I walked in and picked it up.

I didn't have time to complain or tell him I wasn't wearing this before he shut the door in my face. I sighed in annoyance, this was not what I pictured, I didn't want to wear this gear. But at the same time, I really did need new clothes. Who knew how long I had been wearing the ones I had on. So, I began to get dressed in what he gave me. The outfit was just simple gear pants, gear shirt, a jacket, and black boots.

I finished with redoing my hair into a neat pony tail, I looked in the mirror above the dresser. I looked a little worse for wear. My dark eyes had marks under them and I had some dirt on my hands. I sighed going into the bathroom and washing that off. I had to come out looking like I was unphased by all of this and that I was playing by the rules.

I came out of my room and was met head on by a boy who looked around my age. He was nearly the spitting image of Jace but he had strawberry blonde hair and green-golden eyes. He was wearing blue, denim, pants and a long-sleeved shirt. He looked me with a look of disdain.

"I'm supposed to introduce myself," he drawled with a displeased shake of his head. "I'm Luke, Dad wants us to be down in the library for dinner."

Luke seemed very unhappy that I was now a part of his life. The feeling was mutual though. I didn't want to be here anymore than he wanted me to exist in his world. "Okay, I'm Ronnie." I said with a shrug of my shoulders not offering him anymore details.

"Just for the record," Luke spoke as we began to walk towards where the library was supposed to be. "I would have let the Clave kill you."

I laughed in amusement, he thought he could scare me. Nice try, I wasn't afraid of this kid. "Would have been fun, I could have haunted you from my grave." I quipped back before entering the library.

This was going to be a long dinner, I could already feel it.


	4. Streets Filled With Blood

**Hey, lolamay101, here, thank you so much for the reads, follows, and favorites! An even special thank you and love to the person who has left me two reviews! You made me smile really big so thank you so much! I wrote this over the two days I was sick so hopefully it's not too terrible. Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 4)

(Ronnie's POV)

The library was full of tall shelves full of all sorts of books. My eyes scanned each wall, but there were so many books on one of the columns of shelves I couldn't even read all of them. There was also a big table in the center of the library which had plastic bags which smelt like they had food in them from here. Around the table were Jace, Clary, Alec, stupid Magnus, and two adults I didn't know.

I sat down at one of the tables that was near the library window and away from the food. I wasn't hungry. Mom didn't want me eating much anyway, she said it was important to keep my weight down, so I could hide in certain places. I usually had one meal a day or several snacks but even without eating today I didn't feel the annoying tugging of my stomach. Probably because life as I know it is now temporarily over but that's just a thought.

I sat up straighter when Luke, two other boys, and a little red headed girl came over to me. I folded my hands on the table while schooling my expression to be blank and unreadable.

There was a boy with dark black hair and blue eyes, he looked a little like Alec but more like that lady that was standing with the other adults. He had a grin on his face, he was obviously younger than the other boy. The other boy had brown hair and green eyes and had a deep-set scowl on his face. He looked around my age maybe a year younger. The boy with a grin on his face looked like he was about twelve or thirteen, regardless he still looked very young.

The little girl with the curly, red hair had green eyes that were rimmed with gold. She looked absolutely innocent like she had never seen anything ugly. She had her soft center on display because it hadn't been hardened yet. She reminded me of me when I was very little, but I don't remember much from that.

I just remember one day, I climbed a tree when I was around four or five. The tree was a very tall oak tree, I thought it could touch the sky. So, when Mom wasn't looking and one of her employees weren't working I began climbing it. My hands gripped the bark and my legs propelled me forwards. I went up, up, up, but then a unpleasant noise filled my ears. The sound of something breaking and next thing I knew I was falling down, down, down when I finally came into contact with the hard ground. It was a simple incident, but Mom had made it memorable one when she had one of her workers patch me up and bring me to her. "You took a gamble today, but you lost. You're my daughter and we do not lose."

It may seem like such a minor incident but the very next day was when Mom presented me with a red set of gear and I put it on for the first time. That's when my training began, that's when the endless of hours of being groomed into the perfect solider. Mom told me the reason I was training was because one day there was going to be a war and I was going to lead it. She said I would make blood run through the streets and help her become victorious. Until then though, I had to stay at the house and train.

"Hello! I'm Tessa!" The little girl's voice burst into my trip down my memory lane.

I looked at her, she had a big smile on her face while I could feel Luke's eyes on me. He was watching to see if I would pull anything. I wouldn't hurt a child. Especially one who was so innocent. "Hello," I said neutrally. "I'm Ronnie."

"Nice to meet you!" Tessa said with a big grin. She turned and pointed at the two boys. "These are my cousins, Ramon and James. James is the one with the blue eyes and Ramon's the one with the scowl on his face." She giggled cheerfully.

"Great job Tessa," Ramon chimed in rolling his eyes in displeasure. "You just told a monster our names."

My expression didn't move, I really didn't care what they said because it didn't matter. At the end of the day my goal was to leave. If Ramon tried to hit me or anything he would be in a world of hurt though. I would make sure that boy was having to shove his intestines back into his body in hopes he might ever get to digest food again.

"She's a girl! She's not a monster," Tessa said tapping her cousin on the arm in admonishment.

"She's a pretty hot girl," the other boy, James, looked over and winked at me.

Gross, he's like thirteen and he's flirting with me. I may have not seen many people my own age or heard them talk but I knew they didn't talk like that. "Excuse you," I said in a clipped tone, my eyes glaring into James's.

He backed a little bit away from me, at the look on my face. I noticed Ramon's face turned from just a scowl to very pissed off, he reached out to grab me, but I dodged his hands. I then got onto the table. By this time the adults had noticed the squabble that was going on.

"Ronnie! Get down from there!" Clary called at me angrily, her eyes full of worry as if I was going to do something insane. Which she was probably right but she couldn't do anything about it.

"You don't own me, you can't control where I can and cannot be." I said jumping to the next table. My eyes were locked on Magnus's as if daring him to do something.

What happened next surprised me, Jace got on the table with me in one graceful motion as if it didn't put any stress on him. I jumped over to the next table knowing it probably couldn't hold both of our weight. I could see Alec herding everyone but Jace, Magnus, and Clary out of the room. They think they can control me? I was trying to play by their rules, but they were making it extremely difficult.

"Ronnie," Jace said carefully, as if trying to make his words come out in the right way. "I'm only going to ask you once, to get down and sit your ass down in one of those chairs."

I pretended to think about it for a moment before I burst out laughing. Here we go, let's do this thing. "No, I don't think I will old man," I said lunging at him from the other table.

He wasn't exactly ready for how I threw my body at him and he had way more back up then I did. That's what led to Alec and Magnus securing my arms behind my back tightly and Jace bleeding from a place on his temple. The bleeding was lite but he didn't look all that amused, Clary looked very angry, like she was ready to rip out my throat.

"How dare you," she snarled in my face. "We let you into our home, we offer you food, we give you clean clothes, and then you scare my children and make my husband bleed. Are you out of your Angel loving mind?!" Clary yelled in my face, she spat on my cheek so I simply reached to the shoulder of my shirt and wiped it off.

I turned back to her, my body now clam and my eyes full of boredom. "I didn't ask to be here. In fact, I asked to be taken home but then I was told how much of that was not an option. So, you really haven't done anything that's worth my respect." I said simply with a shrug.

Jace looked at me, his golden eyes trying to figure out my angle. "She's right," Jace said with a shrug of his shoulders. He ignored the outraged look on his wife's face. "We haven't, let her go. I don't think Ronnie will harm us."

Magnus and Alec slowly let their grip on me come away, leaving me just standing with Jace in the library. Both of them guided a cursing and angry Clary out of the room. I didn't move as I watched Jace, he hadn't said anything else. "Why did you do that?" I asked him.

Jace shrugged his shoulders, his hands going into his pockets. "You remind me of some people I used to know." Jace kept his tone neutral, just like I did with my tone. "Come on, I have something to show you."

He began walking out of the library leaving me to run to catch up with him. He was so frustrating, he wouldn't give me anything that I wanted but I guessed that this way how it was going to go. I could push and push but he wouldn't relent. He would let me beat myself down to exhaustion and he would let me be a pest and he wouldn't care. No matter what I did, I knew there was nothing I could do that he would finally say get out at. He said that people wanted me dead, I guess I was about to find out how bad he wanted to keep me alive.


	5. Brothers

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(Chapter 5)

(Ronnie's POV)

I followed Jace through the Institute in silence and we arrived in a small room, it was filled to the brim with weapons. I looked at all of the weapons with interest, there were battle axes, swords, bows, throwing knives, ninja stars, and more but in the middle of the room was my sword and another one. My eyes froze on it, that was the other sword in the set. Mom said my sword had a brother, but I didn't know what it looked like. There was no mistake though, that signature matches the other sword. It was just longer and heavier.

"Where…where did you get that?" I said gesturing to the other sword and I reached for it. I took it in my hand, I could feel an instant connection to it.

"That," Jace said coming up behind me and taking the other sword, my sword, in his hands. "Was a sword that was forged by the Wayland Smiths, a very powerful smith family. Both of these swords were made by them. They belonged to the Morgenstern family. Now this one," Jace said holding up the sword I had had for a very long time. "Rightfully belongs to my wife, Clary, but was stolen about ten or eleven years ago."

"Right around where it was given to me," I said softly looking at that sword, I shook my head. I couldn't believe anything they were saying, and they brought up the name Morgenstern again even though I firmly told them I wasn't a Morgenstern.

Jace nodded his head before handing me Heosphorous and holding out his hand for the other sword. I gave it to him and he turned it over in his hands. "Now this sword, this sword has seen a lot of blood. It belonged to one man named Valentine Morgenstern who tried to wipe out a whole race. It's other owner," Jace said looking up at me. "I don't think I should tell you."

I couldn't help it, but my curiosity got the better of me. I had to know what the other owner did. These swords were connected with me even if I was not a Morgenstern. "Tell me, I can take it." I said crossing my arms as if daring him to say otherwise.

"I'm just not sure if you're ready to hear about your father yet." Jace said, and now I knew he was bating me. He was trying to get me to fall into that trap, but I knew I had to find the truth of what he really knew. I could compare it to what Mom told me about my estimated father.

"What do you know of my father?" I said in carefully guarded voice. "Tell me something true that I might know." I said spinning the sword in my hand as if getting ready to use it.

Jace thought for a moment before speaking. "Your father was a great warrior, he was one of the most skilled fighters that lived." Jace said and I froze, those are almost the exact words Mom used. No way he could have known that unless he knew something about my father.

"Tell me then," I demanded, I was losing control over my emotions and my voice had begun to come out strained. "Tell me what you know about the sword and my father."

Jace nodded and then pulled up a couple of chairs for us to sit in. He gestured for me to take a seat and I did so willingly, I sat up straight and I kept the sword on my lap. Jace watched me for a second and then shook his head slightly with a smile. "Your father was named Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern, but he often went by Sebastian Morgenstern. After your grandfather, Valentine, had died Sebastian took the sword and it belonged to him. Your father's ultimate goal in life was to burn down the world and to make an elite race but it backfired on him. Thanks to Clary, but before he was killed he had shed a lot of blood with this sword."

I listened to this and sighed running a hand over my face, I refused to believe this was my father. Mom would have told me if she had a little feeling about this. Mom wasn't one not to talk about this type of thing, she would bring it up and we would talk through it. It was the one thing she would do with me, teach me about the world and the things in it. "I don't think this guy is my father and I know I don't have a grandfather. So, thanks for the story Jace, but that's all it is, a story." I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

Jace shook his head with a sigh. "You can believe what you want Ronnie, but it's the truth. And the longer you're going to be stubborn the harder the truth will hit you."

I shook my head before getting up to leave the room with the longer sword in hand. Before I went, I turned back to Jace. "And Jace, tell Clary she can have her fucking sword back. It wasn't mine to begin with." I said in a curt tone and before he could reply I left.

(Jace's POV)

I was lying in bed reading a book when Clary walked in. I shut my book and turned to my wife. "How are you?" I asked her in concern, I knew having Ronnie here was a bit stressful for her. Ronnie wasn't exactly the easiest child to take on, especially when she looked so much like Sebastian.

"She just looks so much like Sebastian." Clary sighed as she laid down next to me, her red hair spreading out. "It's unnerving, and she seems so full of hate."

I sighed, she wasn't wrong. Ronnie seemed to be full of hate, but I did crack through a little of her exterior today with the sword. "She's not all shell though, I did see some signs of humanity today. I showed her the other Morgenstern sword and told her about Sebastian?"

"You what?!" Clary asked me in alarm. "Jace! She doesn't even believe he's her father, now she won't ever want to believe it!" She said to me angrily.

"I'm not so sure," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "When I was telling her about Sebastian she looked like she was buying into it before she lashed out. That girl has a flair for theatrics." I chuckled with a shake of my head.

"Like someone else I know," Clary quipped back with a shake of her head.

"Who? Magnus?" I asked her in amusement, before patting her head because I knew she hated it.

"You know exactly who," Clary said batting my hand away and giving me a pointed look. "But that's not the point, the point is that you have to be careful with her. We don't know all about her yet, we don't know what makes her tick. I don't want her to explode like he did and decide it would be a great idea to burn down the world."

I understood her concern, it was the Clave's concern, but the Clave was much more extreme in their thinking. Sebastian was now the story Shadowhunter parents told their children to get them to behave. He was a part of history but also a part of what goes bump in the night. Everyone was afraid of Ronnie, but I wasn't. I couldn't let myself be because that girl could smell fear. She had been living with Lillith all of her life, Magnus figured that out today, and was brain washed. The girl didn't even know she was a Shaodwhunter but that didn't mean she was not lethal.

"Something tells me she's different." I said shaking my head. "There's a lot of similarities between her and Sebastian but there's also a lot of differences. This is not just black and white Clary, this is in many shades of grey. There is depth to that girl's soul." I sighed shaking my head.

"I don't even understand who she was born! Sebastian didn't love anyone but me and you." Clary spoke bluntly and in frustration. The sword Ronnie left with me was the one thing she carried around to remind her of the Morgenstern part of her, but besides that she didn't mention it. I knew it unnerved her that we suddenly had a niece, and a hostile one in fact.

"Who knows, for all we know Lillith could have done something to make her be born. We don't know. What we do know is that she exists and she's not him. No matter what she says or what she does, we have to believe she's not him." I said firmly, I reached and kissed Clary's hand. "Because if we don't then the Clave certainly won't and there'll be more Morgenstern blood on everyone's hands."

Clary bit her lip, her green eyes watching me as if trying to gauge what she should say next. "Do you think she's the one Magnus got the prophecy about? The one who'll make the streets run with blood?" Clary said in fear.

I didn't know what to tell her because I truly didn't know. I knew though she needed to have peace of mind. "We don't know, and we won't know. But if we see signs that she is the one, I swear on the angel I'll either bring her to the Clave or kill her myself."


	6. Bring It On

**Hello, lolamay101 here, so I have had a bad headache for the past few days so that's why the update is coming out now. I hope you guys like it. Thank you so much for the reviews! I hope you like it! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 6)

(Ronnie's POV)

For once, in a really long time, I actually slept. I had a dreamless sleep too, which was really nice since usually my head is plagued with images of fire and blood. It has always been that way though, Mom said it was one of my gifts. I wish it came with a receipt because I would love to return it.

I put on the black clothing I had on yesterday before venturing out of my room. Well, it wasn't really my room but the room I was staying in. I didn't want to attach anything as 'mine' since I had no intentions of staying here. The first chance I got, I was out of here. I couldn't wait to get back to Mom, and back to training. The one thing I did kind of like though was having other people my age around. Even though we despised each other it was better than nothing.

I walked into a large room, there were rafters that had what looked like rock climbing equipment to keep people from falling. There were targets set up on one side of the room and then in the center there were training mats. On the mat was Luke and Ramon who were sparring back and forth while Jace watched. On the other mat, James and Tessa were sparring with Alec watching, but the younger kids weren't really sparring they were more circling each other.

I never really had a sparring partner, sure Mom would let me train with one of her lackeys from time to time but it was rare and I would always beat them. It was never a challenge and I beat them up so bad Mom stopped letting me fight them. It had at least been year since I last sparred with an actual person.

I walked forward to Luke's and Ramon's mat and stood across watching as Luke struck forward with a burst of energy, he was like a viper. Ramon swore under his breath as Luke knocked him to the ground and had his foot on his throat, Luke grinned down at him. "Beat you again, cos." He said with a grin.

Jace rolled his eyes taking a step forward. "Don't get cocky Luke. Ramon, you need to be more aware. You have been training with Luke for how many years now? Six or seven years? You should know that move by know."

Ramon rolled his eyes as he stood up and knocked Luke's foot out of the way. "He's fast Uncle Jace, that's the only thing he has going for him."

"And accuracy," I butted in, my black eyes finding Jace's. "Your movements were sluggish and lazy even if he moves like a viper. You wouldn't be able to fight your way out of a paper bag the way you move." I snorted with a cross of my arms.

Jace looked at me in surprise, but his smile told me he was amused. Luke actually laughed in shock and in anger. Ramon on the other hand, his face was full of rage. He wasn't expecting those words coming out of my mouth. I was known to be truthful, Mom always said my mouth would get me in trouble.

"Oh yeah? If you're so confident I would love to see you try and fight me. Unless, you're too scared." Ramon said cracking his knuckles, his face watching me.

I looked over at Jace who had his face schooled to have no expression on it. The others had stopped what they were doing and came on over. I looked around before shrugging my shoulders. "Sure, I'm a little rusty but that shouldn't effect much." I said cracking my knuckles as I stepped onto the mat.

Ramon barked out a laugh in amusement. "You're going down, Morgenstern."

"I don't have a last name, pretty boy." I said with a roll of my eyes, before beginning to move silently and raised my fists.

Ramon was physically bigger than me but that didn't mean I still couldn't pull through with a win. I had to use my brains which was a great asset of mine, I had seen a little bit of his fighting style but not enough. I would wait for him to attack first before really beating him.

I saw Ramon shift in position right before he swung at me, I caught his fist in mid-air. I hear Alec breathe through his mouth before I kneed Ramon in the stomach firmly. His breath went out of him with a whoosh before I threw him backwards with a smirk. He glared at me, he hadn't expected me to even get a hit on him. For me to get the first hit? Now that hurt his little boy ego.

"That all you got?" Ramon barked at me with a slight laugh.

I rolled my eyes, boys were so stupid. "Are we going to fight or are we going to argue?" I asked him as I came at him quickly.

I punched him in the chest and I heard the breath, again, rush out of him. I brought my leg up quickly to his stomach, but he blocked me with his arms. I backed up a pace to gain some momentum before coming at him again and sweeping my legs under his, but he jumped back with a smirk. He wasn't bad when he wasn't being a cocky son of a bitch. That was what really spurred me to fight Ramon, he was too cocky for his own good so was Luke. I met both of them only yesterday and we already had a problem with each other. I needed to prove myself and Ramon plus Luke needed to be taken down a notch.

When Ramon seemed to let his guard down when I hadn't come at him for a few seconds, I came at him with all I had. I swung my fist hard into his nose and I felt blood spray onto my hands and I then knocked Ramon onto the ground before pinning him and putting my elbow to his throat. I didn't put any pressure on it, but he did put his hands up, I didn't let my guard down until Jace touched my shoulder. I flinched away from Jace before I let Ramon get up.

I looked at the shocked faces of James and Tessa, the grim ones of Alec and Jace, and the angry one of Luke. He looked like he wanted to kill me. "You're dead," was all Luke said before he walked out with Ramon.

Alec sighed and looked at Jace. "I'll go calm them down." He said before he exited with Tessa and James hot on his heels.

After they were all out of sight Jace turned to me with a neutral expression on his face. "You knew what you were doing. You baited Ramon because you knew you could and you knew you could win." He said as if it was a matter of fact, and it was.

Jace wasn't wrong, I didn't have any intentions of getting into a brawl with Ramon this morning, but I knew exactly what to say if circumstance provided which it did. I used Ramon for my own gain, because I wasn't here to make friends. I was here because Jace was forcing me to be. I never asked for this and proving myself to be a threat may make them respect me. That was the thought anyway but judging by Jace's and Alec's faces it was more of a concern for them.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, doesn't matter either way. I beat Ramon in a fight and I will beat Luke too. But you knew that." I said copying his tone with a shrug. "Jace, I'm not stupid. I know what you're doing, you're trying to see what I can do and let me tell you, you haven't even hit the tip of the ice berg." I spat, my dark eyes gleaming in distaste.

Jace laughed shaking his head. "I think you underestimate Luke, Ronnie. He won't go down as easy as Ramon in hand to hand." He took a step towards me and I took one step back.

"I think you over estimate him, he obviously has no depth of thought when he fights. He is quick and accurate but that's it. He gets lucky, if he fights someone with experience, someone who can handle his reflexes then he will lose." I said simply.

Jace folded his arms over each other watching me with his experienced eyes. "I have seen many people in my life who will fight tooth and nail for what they want. You though, there's something very dangerous about you," Jace said walking a circle around me. "You're hungry, very hungry, for competition. From what I have heard about you is that you've been alone with no one to challenge you. Well Ronnie Morgenstern, I have some news for you, for the first time in your life I'm going to challenge you."

I rolled my eyes turning and looking at him. "I would love to see you try." I said tilting my chin up at him.


	7. Death Wish

**Hello people, lolamay101 here. Sorry the update has taken so long. I've been really busy and have had a little bit of a writers a block. I hope you guys enjoy this regardless. Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites! You all rock! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 7)

(Luke's POV)

"I'm going to kill her," I growled as I paced from end of the room to the other.

I can't believe Dad actually let that thing into our home! Ronnie Morgenstern was a ticking time bomb if I ever saw one. Dad said she was stable but from what I saw today she was far from it. That girl wouldn't know stable if it hit her over the head with a club.

Ramon looked up at me from his space on my bed. "We have to do something," Ramon said grimly.

I knew he was right, but Dad would skin me alive if I did anything to Ronnie Morgenstern. We were supposed to act like everything was fine and not like we had an insane girl in her home. This Institute was ours NOT Ronnie's. My parents had fought way too hard to let it fall back into the Clave's hands. The Clave was a muddy mess and adding Ronnie to the mix made everything ten times muddier.

"What do you suggest we do? If we try to get rid of her, Dad will have both of our heads." I said as I went over to my curtained window and stood beside it in thought.

Ramon sighed from behind me, I could hear him switching positions on the bed. "You know there's someone we can call." He said which caused me to turn around.

"Do we really want to get Jack Penhallow, of all people, involved with Ronnie Morgenstern?" I asked him, my eyes locked on my parabatai.

Jack was a very good friend of mine, I have known him practically since birthday. There was a problem with Jack though, he was the Consul's son. Did we really want to invite the Consul's son in with the devil's spawn? I wasn't so sure. Dad would kill the both of us if we created a hostile enough situation that they took Ronnie out to the barn and like an old dog shot her. I had to wonder if that would really be the worst thing though? Ronnie was dangerous and she's one person I would really like to see dead.

Ramon simply smiled at me and shook his head in amusement and mocking. Sometimes my parabatai scared me with the lengths he was willing to go. "We both agree she has to go, right?" Ramon asked me in a tone he would use with a child.

I rolled my eyes but answered him anyway, "Yes."

"Then if she had an unfortunate encounter with Jack then no one can blame us." Ramon said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Why don't you shoot him a text?"

I sighed, why was I the one with a dilemma for once? Ramon was the one usually pulling me out of doing something stupid, I guess I just didn't want to disappoint Dad. People said I was just like him or on the track to be just like him. I wasn't sure if I really wanted the weight of being the best Shadowhunter of my generation on my shoulders. I wasn't Jace Herondale, I was Luke Herondale. Regardless, I still didn't want to disappoint him.

I went over to my nightstand by my bed and grabbed my cellphone. Shadowhunters weren't big on technology but Dad and Mom were. It was easier and less tedious then fire messaging someone they paid for it. I unlocked my cellphone and clicked on Jack's number. I asked him if he wanted to come to the Institute for awhile, and I knew he would say yes because he hated his Dad.

(Ronnie's POV)

"You're so sloppy, Tessa could kick your butt." Jace said across the way from me where he waited for me to attempt another punch on me.

I gritted my teeth in annoyance at his words, what did he know about fighting? He hadn't even tried to take me down yet. If Jace thought he was so great, he should try to fight me and see how far it got him. He was old and slow, while I was fast and nimble which meant I had the advantage in this fight.

I backed up a pace knocking some of the stray hairs that fell out of my ponytail behind my ear. "If you think you're so great, why don't you fight me?" I snapped at him, I was itching for a fist fight or a sword fight. I would enjoy taking his butt down to hell.

Jace's golden eyes flickered with mischief as if this had been his plan all along. I was too pissed to care when he smiled at me. "Pick your weapon," he said simply.

"Sword," I said, I reached into my belt loop and pulled out what Jace claimed to be my father's sword with a determined look on my face.

Jace looked only mildly surprised that I decided to fight him with a sword. "Until there's no escaping a final shot," he said knowing I would know what that meant.

I twirled the sword in my hand and kept my eyes on him. This sword was lite but felt heavy none the less. I wasn't sure if it was the story Jace told me about the sword but if felt like it was weighed down with the past. I glanced at it for a moment, Sebastian Morgenstern may not be my father but that didn't mean this sword did not have a bloody past.

I sprang forward first and Jace caught my sword with ease. I brought it back in arc and Jace took that opportunity to take a strike at me, but I moved to the side. I went at him again, my sword moving through the air in a skillful, side arc. Jace caught it again and this time I brought the sword back a little less this time, so I could keep up with his speed.

"You're a quick study," Jace noted as his sword clanged against mine. He turned out and I followed his movements swiping my sword out to get him again.

"I'm well aware," I said gritting my teeth as I focused on trying to land a strong blow onto him.

Jace chuckled his golden eyes were moving fast as if trying to track all of my movements at one time. I didn't understand that, how could he track everything I did with just his eyes. It didn't matter, what mattered at this point was holding a sword to his throat and ending it.

I felt my rage grow in size when he landed a small cut on my hand and that was the only because I was being careless. I went him with everything I had and knocked his sword out of his hand before holding mine to his throat.

Jace looked very surprised as he held his hands up. "Very nice, Ronnie. Very nice, if only you could use that rage and skill in your hand-to-hand you would be a real force to be reckoned with."

I looked at him in rage, my eyes glaring into his golden ones. He gently moved my sword to the side when Luke and Ramon came in. Luke had no expression on his face, but Ramon looked smug as hell. I felt Luke glare at me when Ramon began to speak. "Jack Penhallow is coming to visit."

Jace turned to his son and nephew and ran a hand through his golden locks as he put his sword in his weapons belt. "Is that a question or a statement?" He asked in a casual but calculated tone.

"It's a statement." Luke answered stepping forward. "Jack is on his way."

Jace took a deep breath in through his nose and I turned to him. "What's the deal with this Jack kid? So what he's coming to visit? I don't give two shits." I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Language." Jace snapped at me and I rolled my eyes. We just fought each other with swords and that's what he talks to me about? "And the big deal is he is the son of someone important in the government. Now, no one gives any care to what he says but that's not the point. The point is things are about to get tricky."

I turned to idiot one and idiot two with a look of rage on my face. I knew what they were doing. "You invited him here to kill me." I said going towards him but I felt Jace pull me back and press something to the back of my neck.

I felt myself growing tired and my body lost control of itself leaving me in a world of darkness. When I wake up, those two were so dead.


	8. Angelic Power

(Chapter 8)

(Ronnie's POV)

"What in Raziel's name are you wearing?" Alec asked me when I came down the stairs to where Luke, Ramon and Alec were waiting for Jack Penhallow.

I came down the stairs with a smirk looking down at my attire, I was in the red gear I came here in. I had the sword I beat Jace with on my belt. "What do you mean Alec?" I asked him in an innocent voice.

"You know exactly what he means," a voice came in behind me, I turned to see Jace coming down the stairs with an unamused expression on his face. "You're playing a dangerous game, but if you want to play it so be it."

"Are you kidding me Jace?!" Alec growled at his brother in annoyance. "I thought you wanted to keep her alive."

"I think this is the perfect attire for her to meet Jack in," Luke said with a shrug of his shoulders and Ramon patted his back with a smirk. Alec glared at the two of them.

"I do," Jace said, before turning to me and looking me straight in the eye. "But Ronnie's a big girl, and if she wants to roll the dice so be it."

I was surprised by that, I guess me beating him yesterday had an impact on his opinion of me. I couldn't say I wasn't pleased with Alec's and Jace's reactions. That's what I was going for. I heard the door start to creak open and I turned around and folded my hands behind my back. I had no clue what this guy was going to look like, but I did know we weren't going to get along.

The door came open fully and in walked a boy with black, curly hair and deep sea green eyes who was around my age. He had pale skin, almost as pale as mine but not exactly. He had a small bag slung over his shoulder and was dressed in black gear. He walked as if he owned the place and his movements stopped when his eyes landed on me. He looked surprised that I was there, and a smirk found its way onto his face. As if he knew something I didn't.

"Welcome back, Jack." Jace said going forward and embracing him.

Jack hugged Jace back and grinned at him. "It's great to be here Jace, thanks for letting me come in."

"You're welcome anytime." Jace said ruffling his hair as if he was a parent.

"Bullshit," I muttered under my breath and Alec nudged me in the ribs as if telling me to shut up.

"Who are you?" Jack asked pushing past Jace and standing right in front of me.

I cocked my head up so I had some attitude that made him be weary of me. "Ronnie." I introduced simply without saying anything else.

"Well Ronnie," Jack said, a smirk on his face and his eyes full of light. "Did you know it's illegal to wear any symbol that supports Sebastian Morgenstern? You could die for that." He tsked as if I was a child.

A snarl appeared on my face. "That name keeps coming up. This gear represents my mother, Lillith-"

"Oh, even better, you're supporting a Greater Demon. The Clave loves that type of thing." Jack interrupted, and I heard Ramon and Luke snicker in the background.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped at him angrily, Mom was not a demon. She was nowhere near it.

"Jack, that's enough." Jace sighed shaking his head at Jack the asshole in a condescending manner. "Both of you need to play nice. So, Ronnie Morgenstern meet Jack Penhallow. Jack Penhallow meet Ronnie Morgenstern."

"Again, for the last time, Morgenstern is not my last name. I don't have one," I said my eyes not leaving Jack's body. If he tried anything I would beat him to a bloody pulp.

"I'll see you around beautiful." Jack snickered in amusement before brushing past me with Ramon and Luke behind him.

I watched after him in disbelief. Who the hell did he think he was? I was going to take that cocky son of a bitch down. I was going to show him that messing with me wasn't a great idea, but before that I had some questions for Jace. I wanted to know what Jack meant by Mom being a Greater Demon.

I whipped around looking at Jace who had a slight smirk on his face. "What the hell did he mean about my Mother being a so called Greater Demon?"

Alec looked at me and shook his head. "I'm going to rip the band aid off. Look Ronnie, your so- called mother isn't really your mother. Do you know how I know?" Alec asked me, his eyes locked with mine. "You're not a Warlock. You have no Warlock's mark, you have shown no magical capabilities, and Magnus would have figured that out. You're something else entirely." He said shaking his head grimly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I growled at him in frustration, I could feel a splitting headache coming on.

Jace cleared his throat taking a step closer to me. "Everything you have read, every monster you have heard of, they all exist. There's certainly a hell and there's certainly a heaven. You're something special as are the rest of us, but you have something even more peculiar about you." Jace said roughly.

I just stood there mute, what was he talking about. I didn't understand what was going on. He was talking nonsense. Fiction was fiction and fact was fact. Monsters were a work of fiction, I knew that for sure. Mom had made me sleep in my closet when I kept waking her up with my fear that there were monsters in there. I slept in there and there were no monsters. Monsters don't exist, they just live in our heads.

"You have demon and angel blood in you veins." Jace said watching me with his golden eyes. "You're a Shadowhunter, a heretic Shadowhunter, but a Shadowhunter. The Clave considers you one of us because of me. I convinced them you were different because Magnus convinced me you were different than the monster your father was." Jace said circling me and I could feel everything around me slow down.

"Shut up, you know nothing about me." I spat angrily. I didn't understand what they were talking about. Why me? Why now?

"If that's the truth? Let me prove it." Jace said firmly and I felt like I was in a trance that if I argued with him it would make me explode because it was so impossible. "Hold out your arm."

I slowly did as I was told, while Alec flitted around us nervously. "Jace-"

"Hold still," Jace ignored Alec before producing what looked like a sort of pen. The pen lit up and my eyes watched it. I felt like a deer in the headlights. "This is called a Stele. It gives a Shadowhunter, like yourself, power."

Jace held it to my wrist and began to draw it, I let out a cry of pain. It felt like twenty bees were stinging me at one time, but I couldn't pull away. I didn't know why but my feet were glued in place. I couldn't move because I was so focused on Jace's confident movements with the Stele. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and my headache was getting worse. I could feel something rush through me as if the wind was trying to knock me off my feet and flat onto my ass. The feeling was overwhelming.

I looked down at my wrist and on it was a weird looking swirl thing in black ink. Did he just give me a magical tattoo to try and con me? No, that doesn't make sense because I wouldn't be feeling anything. Unless it was placebo, I wouldn't be surprised if it was placebo. It would be just my luck to fall into that mind game trap.

"I have just given you the first rune that all Shadowhunter children get. It's the most painful one, the Angelic Power rune, but you take pain very well. Most people cry when they get it." Jace said with a shrug and putting his Stele away.

"Okay, so how does this prove anything." I said cradling my wrist and studying the black mark. I wondered how long it would stay or if it would never go away.

"It actually does." Alec spoke up from behind Jace, he looked very pale in the face. "If you weren't a Shadowhunter you would have exploded or died instantly. There's videos out there if you don't believe me, you truly are the lost Morgenstern." Alec said his hands shaking slightly.

He thought he was freaked out? How did he think I felt? My whole body felt numb and I felt like I was going to be sick. There's no way I can be a Morgenstern but then I thought there was no way I could be a Shadowhunter. I'm still not sure if I entirely believe Jace or Alec about the exploding thing but I did know this, I felt a change when Jace put that Stele to my skin. I'm not sure if it was a good change or a bad change but I felt something inside me come alive. A part of myself I had never unlocked before. I had been here for about three days and I felt so overwhelmed already. I didn't know what to believe.

I knew now what I needed to do, it was time for Magnus and I, to continue our conversation from a day ago. He better have some answers or someone was going to die.


	9. The Hero

(Chapter 9)

(Ronnie's POV)

"I heard you wanted to see me, Ronnie." Magnus said when I busted into his office with a look of fury on my face.

I looked at the space around me, everything was covered in glitter, why was I not surprised? There was a bookshelf full of thick, ancient looking books and a sparkly pink desk right beside it. The space Magnus had set up shop was just a glittery, disgusting, rainbow mess. I glared at him from his place behind his pink desk.

"Your point?" I asked him, taking the liberty to sit down across from him. My eyes glaring into his. I was not going to take his bullshit, he was either going to tell the truth or just lie to my face.

Magnus smirked at me before leaning across the table with his hands folded on it. "What can I do for you?" Magnus said ignoring my other statement.

I didn't trust Magnus, the look in his eyes told me he had seen a lot and he knew just how to push people the right way. Magnus was the most dangerous type of a person because he had wisdom. The wise weren't just born wise, they had to have experiences to make them that way. What made me so nervous is that Magnus looked at me like he was seeing a ghost. It was almost like I was some old friend he hadn't seen in years.

"I want answers." I told the sparkly man bluntly, I didn't know how to approach the subject. "Why am I like this?" I asked holding out my wrist that still bore the Angelic mark that Jace marked me with only an hour ago.

Magnus's cat eyes looked from my onyx ones to my wrist gently. "You're a Shadowhunter, I'm sure Jace told you otherwise he wouldn't have marked you." Magnus said as if he was picking his words carefully.

"I got that." I said rolling my eyes. It was obvious that my skin could house those marks and if they wanted me to call me a Shadowhunter then I would stop fighting them on it. "I want to know how you know me. Why would Lillith hide this-" I gestured to my arm. "From me?"

Magnus sighed before pulling up an image of me from when I was around four or five. I was running around the mansion with a grin. "I did not meet you personally until you walked into the Institute a few days ago, but I did know of your existence. When Sebastian, your father died, I got a vision of a blonde hair, black eyed girl who was the spitting image of him. I, of course, kept this information to myself. The Clave would treat it like a witch hunt, but you were a child." Magnus explained with a shudder as if thinking about what the Clave could do. "I honestly thought that you would be older than you are but, visions are not great with time."

I took in this information trying not to totally discredit it. "Why didn't you tell the Clave? I mean, I don't think you would be one to sympathize with the man who MIGHT be my father." I said carefully crossing my legs.

Magnus paused at that, his face went blank as if he was trying to think of how to put it into words. "Ronnie, you may look like your father but both of you are very different." He started out. "Sebastian was an angry man who wanted to burn down the world, he had not a bit of light inside of him. But you? When I got that vision of you what I felt was…light and determination. You are the hero that will save our generation from demons like Lillith." He informed me, his gaze guarded.

I felt frustration bubble up in my chest, everyone here loved to tell me what I was going to be. "What if I don't want to be a hero? What if I want to be like my Dad? What if I want to just hide away?" I felt shock come over me, that was the first time I admitted Sebastian was related to me.

Magnus looked shocked for a brief second, but it quickly faded into a calm façade. "Ronnie, you can choose who you want to be. But know this, that everyone will always see you as Sebastian's kid until you do something to change their minds. The choice is yours." Magnus said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Now, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"No," I said trying to hide the anger in my voice I stood up. "Nothing at all." I turned to go, I came in hoping to get some of my questions answered but I was just left with more questions.

"Ronnie?" Magnus called out to me, I turned back to him. I saw in his hands he had two books. "This belonged to a dear friend of mine, please treat it with care." He said putting a leather- bound book with the mark on my wrist on it. He then looked down at the other book and then back up at me. "And this belonged to your father, he was not much older than you when he wrote this." He said pressing a blood, red leather journal in my hand.

I looked down at both of the books, I was shocked he gave them to me. "Thank you," I muttered turning both of them over in my hand. I stood for a moment until I finally got the nerve to ask the question. "Magnus, let's say I start to believe the mumbo jumbo you've been spitting out. Then what?" I asked him.

Magnus laughed slightly and tutted in amusement. "Ronnie, Jace Herondale said one candid thing when he was your age. He said, "all the stories are true". Shadowhunters are the link between the mundane world and the shadow world. And you, you're even more special then all of the Shadowhunters alive at the moment." Magnus said with a small smile. "You are the link between hell, mundane, angel, and shadow. You are the balance."

I sighed, that didn't really answer my question, but it prompted one last important one that I had stored in my head. "Why does everyone keep saying that I have demon in me? I don't understand what they mean? What do they mean that I'm utterly split."

Magnus sighed running a hand over his face. "Ronnie, that is a very hard topic to discuss. I will tell you this, and only because I know you can handle it; your father was experimented on. When your father was in Jocelyn Fairchild's, your grandmother's, womb your grandfather fed her demon blood as well as angel blood. He experimented with her blood and created a monster. You are a peculiar case because you don't act like you have demon blood in your veins but it's very clear you have it. You don't act like you have angel blood in your veins, but you do."

I was still confused but my brain was on information overload. There was just so much going on in my head right now. I was starting to believe them and that's what really scared me. I kept trying to convince myself that they were just trying to trick me but the feeling in my chest just got worse. I felt like an anchor had just been tied to my foot and I was being drug down to the bottom of the ocean. Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss.


	10. Common Ground

(Chapter 10)

(Ronnie's POV)

I exited Magnus's room in a daze, the items he gave me in my hands. I turned them over as I walked back towards my room but bumped right into Jack, the new boy. I looked up at him in disdain and annoyance, why the hell was he in my face. Didn't he have anything better to do then bug me?

"Do you always walk like you are going to your execution?" Jack questioned me with a smirk on his face.

I gave him a scowl, he should be with Luke or somewhere that is not in my face. I swear, I was going to hit that boy upside the head. "Do you always try to be a pain in the ass?" I quipped back at him.

"It's one of my more natural talents," he shot back just as quickly.

I rolled my eyes, I didn't have the time or patience to stand here and talk to this idiot. I began to walk away, and I heard his feet begin to follow me. Why the hell did he want to follow me around? I had other pressing matters to attend to, I had made it clear that I was not in the mood for entertaining our new house guest.

"Jace told me to get you," Jack finally called out, which made me stop and turn around. "He needs to see you."

I sighed, what more did Jace Herondale want from me? I was starting to take in the fact that I had Shadowhunter blood running through my veins. I mean, I guess it make since but why wouldn't Mom tell me? Being a Shadowhunter could help me unleash my full potential especially with the runes. Why wouldn't she want me to be the best me I could be? Maybe she just didn't know. That would make a lot of sense, otherwise she probably would have pushed me to learn as much as I could about runes and things that could give me power.

"And where is he?" I asked Jack, I just wanted to be alone to my thoughts, but it looked like right now I didn't have a choice.

"Training room, need help to find it?" Jack asked with a cocky smirk on his face.

I snorted in his direction, I don't care who this boy thought he was, but he didn't know me. I was just itching to kick his ass, but I didn't know him. Jace would murder me if I screwed everything he has done for me so far.

"No, I have been her for a few days now. I think I know my way around," I said with a flick of my braid.

I didn't wait for a reply as I headed off in the direction of the training room. I began to plan how I could easily appease Jace so I could escape out of his grasp and go read the books Magnus gave me. These books could hold the answers to everything about my past and about my future. I sighed as I continued walking towards the training room, I hoped I could escape as quickly as possible.

I entered the training room and I saw Jace standing in the center of the room with two staffs in his hands. I rolled my eyes, why did he think it was a great idea for us to fight with a staff? I would much rather fight with a sword, it makes battle a lot more real. Mom always had me fight with a real sword on the rare occasions I would have a partner to spar with. If he was so tough and mighty why wouldn't he fight me with a real sword like he did the other day? I sighed, I would never understand this place.

"Ronnie," Jace greeted me, his eyes locked on the books in my hands but he didn't say anything about them. "Up for a little training?" He asked me with a smirk.

"Not like I have a choice," I said with a shrug as I put the books down at the edge of the mat.

I walked over to him and stood directly in front of him with my arms crossed. Jace looked down at me with a small frown of what I could guess was concern. "You always have a choice Ronnie."

I snorted at him in laughter. "Yeah, tell that to the people who ripped me from my home. Tell that to everyone who is keeping me imprisoned." I said as I took a staff from him and walked to the other end of the mat.

Jace sighed as he twirled his bow staff and took a step towards me. "I wish you would see it like that." He said letting out a fast strike in my direction. "But I can't make you decide how you choose to feel, that's what you have complete control over."

I blocked his staff before making a strike of my own. "Nothing is my choice, you are the cause of everything that has gone to hell in my life." I said getting angrier as I swung my staff very hard at Jace.

Jace watched me as he spun his staff. I could feel the smoke pouring out of my ears in frustration and exhaustion. "Get mad Ronnie," Jace said as he spun away from me gracefully. "Use your rage, I know you know how to."

"Don't tell me what to fucking do!" I growled at him as I vaulted myself forward my speed increasing as I struck my staff right at him, but he moved out of the way.

I was enraged, I was so mad that I couldn't even think straight. I think that was the point of the activity though because Jace knocked me on my ass with a firm swoop of his staff. He held his staff towards my throat and I rolled my eyes as I stood up in frustration. "What was the point of that?" I snarled at him.

Jace leaned on his staff as he watched me. "I found your weakness and I exploited it." Jace said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's what your enemy is going to do unless you learn how to use it to your advantage."

I snorted, he didn't know my weakness. In fact, I don't think I even have one. I would have won that fight if he hadn't been such a pain in the freaking ass. "And what is my weakness almighty Jace Herondale, please inform me." I said my voice dripping in sarcasm and apathy towards him.

Jace mainly laughed and shook his head at my comment. "Your emotions." Jace said as he began to circle me. "This may come of a surprise to you Ronnie, but you are a lot like me when I was your age. You're quick and intelligent but are stupid enough to get yourself killed. You're a leader but are impulsive. You're emotional, yet you wear a mask no one can get through." He said as he plucked the staff out of my hands.

I took a deep breath trying to school myself like Mom taught me. I was burning with anger though, how dare he act like he knows me? He knows nothing of me! I am someone who walked in his life three or four days ago and he's acting like my life story is intertwined with his. I can tell you one thing, they're not. He really doesn't know what I'm capable of.

"You don't know me." I said with a deep scowl of anger and frustration. "Stop acting like you have known me ever since I was born."

Jace waved his hand simply ignoring my words. "I may have not been there when you were born or even knew you existed but I know what you're going through. Your father carried the demon blood in his veins, too much of it. If he only knew how to control what was in him, things might have turned out differently. The demon blood makes your emotions turn upside down, and the angel blood is trying to consume you. You're the ultimate hybrid." He informed me, but Magnus already told me that.

"Magnus already informed me of my curse," I said with a shake of my head. "How is this going to help anything? Why did you have to go and piss me off?"

Jace smiled as he grabbed the books Magnus gave me. "Because, you need to work on controlling your emotions. You're lucky I'm so well trained or else I would have died from that blow. Again, it's great if you're fighting a demon but if you're training and someone pisses you off, the Clave won't like that."

"That's why you sent Jack to get me." I said piecing things together. "To make my blood boil a bit before throwing me through the ringer."

"Exactly," Jace said with a nod of his head. "If you have any questions about what's in either of these, I can help. So can Clary and even Alec, he may seem like a prick but he's alright."

I was too frustrated to give Jace a snarky comment. How dare he play games with me? He was just messing with me to see the results, like I was just some kind of experiment. I snatched my books out of Jace's hand and he looked surprised at my reaction as if we were having a gushy moment. "Jace, next time you want to play a game with me, be careful because next time I might just kill you." I said before walking out of the room.

(Jace's POV)

I watched Ronnie go bewildered, I tried to relate to her but all it did was make her angrier. I was going to have to start locking my door at night. I doubted Ronnie would do anything, but I could never be too careful, especially with Clary.

"Well that went well," a voice came from the other side of the room.

I turned and looked at my Parabatai with an amused look on my face. "I don't know how to get to her, Alec. I try to push my way through her walls, but she seems to come back like three times stronger than before." I sighed shaking my head in frustration.

"Jace, she has been here for three days." Alec said simply as he looked out of the training room in thought. "She's not going to immediately want to talk with you. She was taken away from everything she has ever known."

I shook my head. "I know how that feels better than anyone, so why can't I find some common ground with her?" I said as I paced the training room mat for a moment.

Alec watched me, his blue eyes full of thought. "Ronnie's Sebastian's daughter. We don't know where the common ground with that girl is. We don't even know where to start. Give her space, worst case you send Magnus in or we give her to the Clave." Alec said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"We are not giving her to the Clave. They would kill her or worse." I said shaking my head. It didn't matter how much Ronnie hated me and everything around her, I was not letting her go because there was really no alternative. It was either stay with me or she goes off to die.


	11. The Black Sheep

**Hello people! So this is a chapter in Jack's POV so the writing is a bit more clumped because Jack has a lot of thought provoking character traits and I haven't really expanded on him too much yet. So here's a chance to get to know Jack! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 11)

(Jack's POV)

"Did you do it?" Ramon asked me anxiously, he was the uptight type. His counterpart, Luke, was not as uptight but even more stupid. That's why they were my best friends.

We were sitting in Luke's room mindlessly watching some Mundie film. Consul Penhallow hated Mundie shows and customs so we didn't practice them, except for holidays. Like Halloween, for example, every Halloween in Idris there is a big party but not all the Institutes are invited. Consul Penhallow doesn't want to deal with the Herondales, and the Herondales don't want to to deal with Idris, so they're not invited. This year though, Luke sent me a text inviting me to stay at the Institute for a while and to get his family into the party.

"Yes, I did Ramon, don't get your panties in a twist." I said, and Luke let out a snort beside me. "Consul Penhallow said that 'it would be great for the New York Institute to have a little more involvement in Idris' whatever that means." I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "I don't even understand why you want to go so bad, it's pretty boring."

I wasn't lying, Halloween in Idris is great when you're Tessa's age. Children dress up in their best clothes and have sparring matches. It's great for the parents to show off how well their children are progressing in their training and it's great for the kids because they get noticed. I was too much of a loose cannon to get noticed.

"Just want to see what all the fuss was about." Luke said with a roll of his eyes as he turned around to face me fully. "The only parties we go to are the Christmas ones at the London Institute and the Summer Solstice one at the LA Institute."

I could tell he was lying, there was more to it and I was pretty sure it had to deal with that blonde haired, black eyed girl who sprang up out of nowhere. Ronnie Morgenstern was the talk of Idris right now, it was why Consul Penhallow wanted her to be there so desperately. She wanted to prove that Ronnie was either a criminal and they could execute her or prove she was a saint. There was no in between for my mother. She was very extreme.

From what I got from Ronnie was that she's just pissed off. I would be too if I was taken from everything I've ever known. She's just asking to be killed though, wearing that red gear around like it's some kind of trophy. Hopefully she's not stupid enough to wear that in Idris. The Sebastian Morgenstern crisis happened years ago but it was still frowned upon even to mention his name. Now we had a living, breathing, relative who looked just like him. I think she's kind of cute though, and she's easy to get to. Perks of being the Consul son; you know how to get under people's skin.

"How did you convince your Mom to even let you come? You know, where we have a she-devil living with us?" Ramon asked me with a smirk.

He knew Consul Penhallow and I didn't get along. She ruled the house with an iron fist and I got kicked out of everything she has ever put me in. The only people who have not turned their backs on me are Jace Herondale and the New York Institute. Jace gives me a place to stay whenever I need it with no questions asked, I can show up unannounced neither he nor Clary care. I guess they feel bad for me.

"I've been a pain in Consul Penhallow's ass all week, I got suspended again." I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

Last week I was attending the Shadowhunters Academy but then I decided to get suspended. It really wasn't my fault (not all the way) that the girl's bathroom was suddenly flooded with locus. When I asked Consul Penhallow if I could go stay with the Herondales, she packed my bag and sent me off. I was going to be here for an undetermined amount of time. So, in a way, Ronnie and I were in the same boat. I actually liked the people I was staying with though.

"She's going to skin you alive one of these days." Luke said with a laugh and a shake of his head. "How many times does that make it? Six?"

"Seven," I corrected him with a roll of my eyes. "And it's not like you're a saint either. Consul Penhallow still wants to put your ass in the academy."

"Dad will never let that happen, no matter how much she wants it to." Luke said with a wave of his hand.

Luke caused Consul Penhallow a headache because he had a lot of potential and she didn't agree with Jace's training style. She claimed he was too soft on Luke and that the Academy would put him on the path to be the next Consul. Luke hated the idea so he did everything in his power to be a pain in the ass around her.

"You should really address her as your mother." Ramon grumbled under his breath, he was really into formalities.

"As soon as she starts acting like a mother, I will address her as one." I said with a simple shrug of my shoulders before changing the subject. "Tell me about Ronnie Morgenstern, what is she like?"

"She knows nothing of her relation to Sebastian. Dad finally convinced her today, I believe." Luke said as he stood up and walked to the window in his room. "She's a good fighter, she almost broke Ramon's nose."

"Which is why we called you here as well." Ramon grumbled as he looked at Luke carefully. "She's a pain in the ass."

"I don't know how Mom stands it." Luke sighed coming away from the window. "She looks just like him and even talks a little like him from what Mom has described. I don't know how Dad stands it either. Really, I think we should have just left her to rot in Silent City."

I thought about what they said for a moment. Ronnie didn't seem terrible, just angry. "Why do you say that?"

"Don't you get it." Ramon snapped standing up as well. "She has demon blood running through her veins and we don't know which is really controlling her the angel blood or the demon. She's a loose cannon."

"That's why we wanted you to get us into the party." Luke confessed calmly as he reached for his stele and tucked it in his pocket. "We're going to put Ronnie Morgenstern to the test."

(Ronnie's POV)

"Shit," Jace said in the kitchen where I was drinking a glass of water.

I looked over, in his hand he held a black piece of paper with fancy writing on it. He had it at an angle that I couldn't really read it but the look on his face told me this wasn't exactly good news. Then again, Jace Herondale was very dramatic so it could be nothing.

"What is it?" I asked with limited curiosity in my voice. "What's wrong?"

Jace shook his head as if everything came into play. "That's why Jack showed up. It all makes sense." He muttered to himself before looking up at me. "We have been invited to a party by the Consul. It's a personal invitation, as head of the New York Institute it would be an insult to turn it down. Especially since I'm housing her son." He said bitterly.

I scowled at him in annoyance. "There's no we in this. You have to go to the stupid cult party. I'll stay here." I said with a cross of my arms as I placed the cup down on the counter next to me.

"You're going, sorry but you don't have a choice. The invitation is asking for everyone, so everyone is going." Jace said with a shrug of his shoulders like this was a normal occurrence. "I need to talk to your aunt." He said turning to go.

"She's not my aunt." I called after him with a shake of my head.

"Talk to Magnus or Isabelle about what to wear." Jace called back ignoring my comment.

I scowled in annoyance, first I was taken from my home and now I have to celebrate All Hallows eve. Mom didn't believe in holidays, they were just days made up by the people around us. So, we treated every day as a normal day. Even my birthday, that was never a big deal. I didn't care though, because I just wanted to please her. Maybe this party will help me escape but I had to decide if I really wanted to. There's so much here for me to learn about my past and to find the truth. This wasn't going to be easy.


	12. Shades of Grey

**Hello people, lolamay101 here. So most of this is in Ronnie's POV but a little bit of it is in Jack's since it's going to help link some more of the story together. I hope you like it! R and R if you have time! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 12)

(Jack's POV)

I was sitting with Ramon and Luke in the training room when Jace came in looking pissed. I had seen him pissed before, but he was always able to keep himself in check the look I saw on his face was pure rage. "Do you think he connected the dots?" I asked looking over at Ramon

"Do you think he gets mad for the hell of it?" Ramon quipped back, and Luke sucked in a breath as Jace stopped in front of us.

"Do you three have any idea of what you just pulled?" Jace asked us in a scary calm voice. Luke got to his feet and I followed his lead. Luke knew how to calm down his dad better than anyone.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked taking the paper and faking surprise at the letter. It looked a little different than last year. "We're actually invited this year?"

Jace rolled his eyes and snatched the paper out of his hand. "Don't give me that Lucian Herondale," Jace snapped at Luke who sighed at the sound of his full name. "You have put us all in danger because they're doing things differently this year." Jace said before looking straight at me. "All Shadowhunters under the age of eighteen can enter the tournament."

This time I was very surprised, Consul Penhallow never said anything to me about any of that. "What do you mean?" I asked taking the paper from his hand and seeing the words written on the page. Consul Penhallow, of course, was using the Halloween gathering as a game of chess. She wanted to see what Ronnie Morgenstern was made of and it was my fault.

(Ronnie's POV)

I was dreaming, I knew I was dreaming but it felt real. I was in an apartment, it was modern looking and very clean. I was dressed in an elegant red dress, something only Mom would wear and my hair was done up in a braid. Inside the apartment, in the living room on a velvet arm chair, sat a man. He had blonde hair that was just as white as mine and black eyes that were just as dark if not darker than mine. He looked almost exactly like the photos Jace showed me. I then realized who I was sitting in front of, Sebastian Morgenstern, my father.

I didn't understand how he could be my father, he was so young. There's no way, from what Jace has told me, he would have time to have a child. I came closer to him and he looked at me with warmth, but it didn't make me feel warm it made my blood run cold. Everything about this man screamed danger and chaos. I felt like I was either going to die or come very close to death just by being this close to him and that's what scared me the most. I thought Mom and Mr. Dearborn were intimidating, but he made them seem like children.

"Roland," Sebastian spoke, a smile coming onto his lips as he tried out my full name on his tongue. "It's so nice to finally get acquainted with you. Do you know who I am?" He asked folding his hands in his lap.

"Yes," I said simply, my eyes locking with his. It was weird, to actually look him in the face and talk to him. "You're Sebastian Morgenstern, my father."

Sebastian grinned at me, but it was a predatory grin. I felt like a mouse standing in front of a starving lion. "Very good," he said before gesturing with his hand out in front of him at the couch opposite to him. "Have a seat, we have much to discuss."

I sat down across from him, crossing my legs. I didn't understand, how was he in my head? Why was he in my head? I knew nothing about him except from what Jace told me and the journal Magnus gave me. Most of his writings weren't very clear so it didn't give me much of a gauge about him. "What do you want from me?" I asked him in a calculated tone that gave nothing away.

Sebastian gazed at me, he hadn't taken his eyes off of me since I showed up here. "I want many things from you, Roland. You have a lot to do, and not much time to do it." He said with a simple wave of his hand.

I frowned, why did he think I was going to do anything for him? He was my father, but did that really mean anything? Blood didn't seem to mean much to Mom, or else she would have told me about him. "What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"I'm talking about bringing me back from the dead." Sebastian said simply, I didn't let myself react. I kept my face stony and waited for him to keep going. "I am stuck in hell, but not dead, at least not all the way. Lillith, the woman who you have been referring to as your mother, saved me. She took the part that was Jonathan and sacrificed it and kept the part that was Sebastian. There was not enough of me to bring me back in a human form. What you are seeing now, is what survived." He said watching me with a careful expression as if deciding how much more should he tell me.

I sat still in shock, how was that even possible? That can never happen. Although, I thought I was just a weapon for Mom to use to protect us from the bad people just a few days ago. Now I was a Shadowhunter, a hybrid, and the most infamous Shadowhunter's daughter.

"Where do I come into this?" I asked him with a frown as I processed all that he had just told me. "I'm not exactly an expert in hell or bringing people back from dead."

"I'm glad you asked!" Sebastian said with a sadistic grin. "There is a book, called the Black Volume of the Dead, it is in the hands of those blubbering idiots of the Clave. That's what my sources from above have told me. I need you to get it and then bring it to the grave yard where my body is buried in Idris. There will be two individuals waiting for you." Sebastian said calmly, his eyes were light with excitement. "With the book you need to bring one more thing though, a Herondale child. The spell has changed over the years, instead of a Blackthorn it calls for a Herondale."

This was all very complicated and a lot to take in, why should I help him? Why would I want to even get near something called 'The Black Volume of the Dead' that didn't exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Also, why would I just give a Herondale away? I wasn't fond of my situation, but I wasn't about to give a child to the likes of him. Who knows what he would do with them.

"Why should I help you?" I asked in a calculated tone. "I only learned about you a few days ago, Mom didn't tell me about you."

Sebastian smirked gently. "I told her not to, it was better you didn't know the destiny you have." He said with a grin before continuing. "You need to do this because you're my blood. Together, we can start a new generation for Shadowhunters. You don't have to be confined of the rules of people like the Clave." He spat in disgust at the name. "Or restricted because you are special."

I thought about it for a moment, I had no options. I had the Herondales and this psycho who wanted to burn down the world and probably still did. I didn't care, he was dangerous, and I needed him to stay away from me.

I hardened a glare in his direction. "I'm not going to do something for someone I don't even know that requires such a sacrifice. Especially when they haven't done anything for me." I said standing up and brushing myself off.

Sebastian frowned, and his eyes glittered with disapproval. "In time, you will change your mind. In the meantime, don't trust my brother and sister. They are going to ruin that beautiful mind of yours."

I woke in a swamp of sweat and tears in my bed. What the hell just happened? That was too real to be just a nightmare. He was crazy, my father, he was absolutely out of his mind. I grabbed his journal and began flipping through it trying to find answers. I hissed in pain as a burning sensation made its way up my body, it made me drop the book. I jumped out of my bed and let out a blood curdling scream, I felt like I was dying. That's when my whole world went back into darkness.


	13. Brain Dissection

**Hello people, lolamay101 here! So this update is pretty late but it is also pretty long so hopefully it's worth the wait! My updates will probably be slower but longer so it will balance out. I hope you guys like it! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 13)

(Ronnie's POV)

I woke up with a pounding head ache, and I mean pounding. It felt like my head was about to implode on itself. I tried to sit up, but I found I couldn't. I was strapped down to an infirmary bed like the one in the cell when I first entered this world. I fought against the bonds, what happened to make Jace and the others tie me down. The last thing I remembered was going to sleep, I let out a frustrated noise as I worked to get free.

"Easy, you're going to hurt yourself." Jace chided as he came into the room with a blank expression on his face. Something had happened, I could tell.

"What did I do? Why am I like this?" I asked him as I strained against the restraints. I hated to be tied down and unable to get free.

"Because, we weren't sure if the demon blood was going to complete consume your soul." Jace replied bluntly as he went over and removed the bonds from around my body.

I frowned in confusion as I sat up and rubbed my arms and wrists trying to understand what he just said. What did he mean he was afraid the demon blood was going to eat my soul? I knew I had demon blood thrumming through my veins, but it has never done anything. Or if it has, I have always been unaware of it. Mom never mentioned anything about my blood being a risk, she always said it was just special. Jace was the one who brought to light the fact that my blood was very different from anyone else's.

"What do you mean?" I asked him slowly, I needed to make sense of his words.

"Don't worry about it, we will talk later." Jace said quickly as he moved out of the way to let me swing my legs over the side of the bed. "We need to get you ready for the party tonight. We don't have much time and we need to act like everything is normal. Your life is riding on this I'm sorry to say." Jace briefed me quickly.

"How is that different from any other day?" I grumbled under my breath as I hopped off the bed. "What do I need to wear and do?"

"There is a tournament time for people in your age group. You have to compete to show the Clave that you have training and you're not a total animal. It would also be considered an insult if you didn't compete when your name was on the damn letter that said 'you are welcome to compete'" Jace told me as we walked out of the infirmary and toward my room. "You will wear the gear I have issued to you. None of that red gear, or Ronnie, I promise you, you won't see tomorrow." He said as he opened the door to my room.

I stepped into my room and saw an exact copy of my red gear but in black on the bed. It was going to be weird wearing black, but I did like being alive. I couldn't do anything if I was dead. There were so many questions I still had about my father, but I didn't know how to ask. There were so many things I needed to do but didn't have time to do. I felt like my back was to the wall and there was no chance I was coming out of this.

I shook my head, I needed to stay focused. Letting my mind wander was just harmful to not only to myself but to Jace. Jace took a gamble by not letting his cult government kill me and he took a gamble by telling me about my father. I wasn't going to let him regret it, I owed him that much. I began to undress, and I reached for the black leather pants. I put them on my body and made sure they were very secure before reaching for my gear shirt and tugging it over my body. I then threw on the gear jacket before sitting on my bed. I grabbed my black, shiny, gear boots and began to put them on and lacing them up tightly. If I was fighting, loose shoes weren't going to help me. I then finished off my look by putting my hair back in a pony tail with a black rubber band.

I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror, my eyes matched the shade of black the gear was. My white blonde hair stuck out like a sore thumb, I was nothing like the family I was trying to hide behind. I didn't have the pedigree they had, one mistake and I was toast. At least, that's how Jace made it sound. The situation didn't look good for me, so I couldn't mess this up. If I did, things weren't going to be pretty. I grabbed the ring Mom gave me with an M on it off the dresser and put it around my neck before leaving the room.

I walked towards the library where I guessed everyone was meeting. I wasn't disappointed. All the kids were dressed in black gear while the adults were dressed in suits and dresses. I looked over at Jace where he was standing and talking with Isabelle in a hushed voice. Standing near them was Clary, Luke, and Tessa. All of the conversations stopped when I entered the room. It was odd because I could feel Jack's, Ramon's, James's, and all of the other's eyes on me. I was guessing this was how the party was going to be when we got there.

"It's weird seeing you in black," Jack called from his place by a book shelf and a smirk on his face. "Even though you still stick out like a sore thumb."

I rolled my eyes, I knew he was right but that didn't mean I cared. I had more important and bigger fish to fry at this point. Jace was counting on me not to send us all to hell and I owed him that much to keep us all alive. "You're not wrong," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "When are we leaving?" I asked turning over to Jace.

Jace took a step towards me. "As soon as Magnus is ready to open up a portal to Idris." He informed me as he stopped in front of me. "Do you have any weapons on you? It will look very bad for all of us if you do."

I rolled my eyes and presented him with my sword and daggers. "That's all I have." I informed him flatly. "I don't see anyone else without weapons." I said gesturing to Luke who obviously had a weapon in his weapon's belt.

Jace sighed and tried to put his hand on my shoulder but I flinched away from it. "Ronnie…you have to understand that the Clave is very weary of you. They want you to screw up and it's a good show of faith if you don't come with any so they don't have the chance. The tournament today is straight up sparring, so you don't need weapons." He said in a quiet voice.

I was about to reply when Magnus came into the room. He was dressed in a blue suit with glitter everywhere. He had so much glitter on, I could have sworn I was going blind. "Whose ready for a party!" He said and with a quick movement of his hand he created a portal in front of us.

The portal was a hole of swirling blue and all of the Shadowhunters around me went towards it. Jace grabbed my shoulder and looked at me. "In the portal, your complete focus must be on me also do not let go of my hand in the portal. I'm your link so you don't go into limbo." He said with a serious expression on his face.

I rolled my eyes as he stuck out his hand and I took it in mine. "Just don't get us lost," I grumbled as he dragged me over to the portal.

I took a deep breath as Magnus winked at me and waved us to the edge of the portal. I took a deep breath in as I kept all of my focus on Jace. I thought about how much of a pain in the ass he was, how bad I wanted to punch him, how I appreciated him telling me the truth, how he saved me from dying by the Clave's hands. I just kept thinking all of those types of thoughts because it kept me thinking about Jace and only Jace.

Before I knew it, I felt fresh air come into my lungs. It was like a mixture of sweet grass and flowers and I opened up my eyes and saw the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. There were tall glass buildings, that were clean and clear. There were also two tall towers that seemed to be almost guarding the city as if they were protecting the city from harm. The ground was a smooth cobble stone that made me feel I was in a Charles Dickens novel. The city was also decorated with black banners and the smell of food was in the air.

"Come on," Jace said letting go of my hand and began to walk over to where the rest of the New York Institute was standing near one of the black banners. Other people were walking by and I could feel their eyes on them and me as I followed Jace over to stand over by the people who were acting as my jailers.

"Are we ready?" Alec asked, a serious expression was on his face as he looked at each one of our faces. "Let's go," he said after he decided everyone was ready.

Clary dropped back from her place next to Tessa to walk with me. "This must be very overwhelming for you," she started out. I looked at her, her pale face had lines in it as if she had laughed a lot but also suffered a lot. Her green eyes also held compassion that could only come from experience. "I know what it's like to be just thrust into this world and have a family you didn't even know about. If you ever need someone to talk to or just a friend, I would be happy to help."

I listened to her as we walked further into the city and we began to see more and more people. I got more and more stares and heard more and more whispers. I felt out of place, well, I knew I was out of place but feeling it didn't make things any better. Clary also didn't make me feel any better, Jace had told me that she was my aunt, but she had no idea what I was going through. She didn't come in 16 years later into the game and found out that everything you were ever told was a lie. She didn't have someone tell her that her father had almost succeeded in burning down the world and had killed tons of innocent people. She didn't have someone tell her that she had demon blood thrumming through her veins. We are nothing alike.

"Thanks, Clary, but I don't think I will need someone like that." I said flatly as we stopped in front of a school. It had the words Shadowhunter Academy written on it and it seemed more like a castle than a school.

In front of the building was Jack, looking less than pleased, standing next to a woman who was dressed in fancy robes. Around us people were everywhere, people my age, people younger, older, infants, they were everywhere. It seemed as if almost everyone in the Shadowhunter community had gathered here for this one event. No wonder Jace was so concerned about me bringing weapons and making a good impression. We couldn't fight our way out of this, and I doubted he would fight for me. He would give me a place to stay, food, and other things that I needed to survive but if it really came down to it, he would let the Clave kill me rather than getting his family killed as well. I didn't blame him, it was just the way things were.

"Good evening," the woman in the fancy robes spoke out. She had black hair like Jack's and she had green eyes that shone with authority and age. "And welcome to our annual tournament to show off our future generation of Shadowhunter's skills. This year we have also opened a teenage division to make sure our Shadowhunters who are just coming of age have all the required training to go out in the field." She spoke with a wave of her hand, Jack was fiddling with a zipper on his jacket and I had to hold back a laugh that was trying to find its way out of my mouth. "We are a dying breed, soon there might be no more Shadowhunters to keep the mundanes safe from demons. For all of our children partaking in the tournaments today, I wish you the best of luck."

"Who is that?" I leaned over and asked Isabelle who was standing to the right of me while Clary was on my left. I watched as the woman came off the stage and Jack followed her and went back to where Jace was waiting for him.

"That," Isabelle said as quiet applause broke out for the woman who just made the speech. "Is Consul Penhallow, she runs the Clave and as you know, is Jack's mother."

I nodded my head at this, I remembered now Jack or someone saying something about Jack being related to the leader of the Clave. I smirked to myself, if this was a tournament I was going to win this thing just to show her that I could keep up with her Shadowhunters. I guess I was classified as one of them now, but I had demon blood in my veins, so I guess I'm my own animal.

The crowd began to move, and I followed them. I felt someone tug on my arm and I looked over to see Jace dragging me over to where Ramon, Jack, and Luke were standing. We must be in the same division or something, it should be easy enough to kick Ramon's ass again if I had to.

"Luke, I bet you twenty bucks you take the whole thing," Ramon said leaning over to his cousin with a smirk on his face.

Luke looked back at him with a smirk of his own as Jace rushed through the halls leaving the rest of us rushing to keep up. "You're on," Luke replied, and they shook hands.

Jace brought us into a huge gym that was covered in training mats, there were a lot kids milling about, and the mat was sectioned off into little fighting rings. I was guessing that was for the not so important matches. There were kids James's age as well as kids our age around. It seemed James's group was bigger. From what I could see, there were only sixteen or eighteen kids that were my age around. I felt their stares on me as we walked toward the wall that had a big piece of paper on it with our match ups.

Jace stopped at the paper before turning to each of us. "Luke, you're in circle four and you're facing Allison Lovelace." He informed his eldest son.

"I got an easy one," Luke boasted and turned to Ramon. "I'll take my down payment now, Ray." He told Ramon who just smirked at him.

Jace rolled his eyes before gripping Luke's shoulder roughly to get his attention. "Don't get cocky, that's how you lose. It's been several years since you have fought Allison, she probably has gotten better since then. So, focus on your technique and don't rely completely on your speed. Just like in practice, right?" Jace said to his son, his golden eyes searching for his son's.

It was clear to me in that moment that Jace really loved Luke. I didn't know my father and I didn't get to have that relationship with someone like a father. The closest thing I had to a father was Mr. Dearborn when he visited but that was on rare occasion and it was mostly because Mom felt guilty about leaving me by myself with her people for so long. Luke never had to worry about that because Jace was always around. Jace was there for his first steps, his first words, his first everything. Mom wasn't there for any of those. I have had a lonely life, but it was strangely comforting in away. My solitude made me a better fighter. I didn't have feelings of desire or selfishness to distract me from the job I was supposed to do.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Dad." Luke said with a roll of his eyes before jogging off to a mat down the way.

Jace sighed and rolled his eyes before turning back to the paper to scan more names. While he was doing that, Jack turned over and smirked at me. "Are you nervous?" He asked, as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Hardly," I snorted in his direction as I watched Jace talk to Ramon. "It's a fight with people who think like robots. You people are too predictable." I said with a shrug.

Jack looked at me and a smile came onto his face, but it was one of amusement. "I didn't know you were the queen of Shadowhunters," he quipped back before speaking again. "Wait, you're not, you have demon blood thrumming through your veins. You're lucky these _people."_ Jack said in almost a mocking manner. "Don't kill you."

I laughed at him with a shake of my head. "They won't kill me, they'll want to make sure I'm still alive when they dissect me." I said with a grin in his direction.

Jack laughed, his eyes lighting up with true amusement. "Where do you think they would start?" He asked me.

Our humor was sadistic and gruesome, but it was entertaining while we watched Jace scowl and mutter to himself as he looked at the paper. "Probably, my brain. They would want to see if any of the demon blood seeped into it and turned parts of it black."

Jack laughed at me and shook his head. "Ronnie!" Jace snapped at me, he had a look of displeasure on his face, but his eyes showed he was slightly amused. "Not here," he told me and gave me a look almost like he was daring me to argue.

Jack mouthed a few curse words when he thought Jace wasn't looking but it was obvious that Jace saw. "Jack," Jace said with a roll of her eyes. "I don't appreciate being called a son of a bitch and a fuck boy," he said under his breath so the prudes around us wouldn't stick their nose up in the air. "And you're fighting Oscar Rosewain in circle 8."

Jack nodded his head, he didn't seem phased about who he was put to fight with first. "I'll see you later, hopefully they don't dissect your brain before then." Jack said giving me a wink before sauntering away.

I watched him go, that was one conversation where I didn't want to stick a knife through his eye. He could actually be pleasant, who would have thought? I shook my head in amusement as Jace waved his hand in front of my face. "What?" I barked out at him quietly.

"You have to go to circle ten," Jace said with a roll of his eyes. "And you're fighting Nicholas Whitelaw, I'm sad to tell you that's not an easy first match up. He's good, one of the best."

I snorted at Jace's grim tone and rolled my eyes. "He's another product of the Shadowhunter machine, there's nothing special about him besides the fact he may have come out better than some of the others. Not every product will be the best and not every product will be the worst." I said with a shrug. "That's all you people are, a machine. And once you figure out one part of the machine, it's very easy to undo the rest of it."

Jace looked at me with a schooled expression as if he couldn't decide whether to yell at me or tell me to go on. "If that's how you think this whole thing works, then you should have no problem winning the tournament."

I grinned at him, for the first time he was getting it. "Don't worry, I will and Ramon will be giving me a cut of the money he gets from Luke."

I didn't give Jace a chance to reply as I held my head up high and walked towards where my fighting area was. I could see the boy I was fighting already there. He had pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair and was very muscular. I couldn't depend on pure strength or weight in this fight, so I would have to depend on strategy. That was my plan anyway, so with him outweighing me and being taller than me didn't bother me at all. This was going to be interesting and I was going to make Luke put his money where his mouth was, and I was going to make Consul Penhallow respect me. Even if I made some people cry in the process.


	14. Lock And Key

**Hello people, lolamay101 here! Lots of back and forth with Ronnie and Jace in here. Sorry for the long wait but again, on a different schedule now. I hope you guys like it! Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 14)

(Jace's POV)

Ronnie was a lot like a viper when she fought. She waited for the perfect time to go in for the lethal blow and hit it with everything she had. It was impressive, really, most Shadowhunters her age didn't fight like that. It was a unique style but could bite her in the butt because someone would switch it up on her. Overall though, it was impressive. She had even begun to draw a crowd since the competition was reaching the finals in a round or so.

Most of the New York Institute had done well. Tessa lasted about four rounds which is way better than last year, she basically sat down and cried during the first one (I got an earful about that). James sucked since he doesn't train unless he was bribed heavily by his mother, so he didn't make it past the second round. All he got was a black eye and a bloody nose which had Simon very concerned since it had been bleeding for so long.

Ramon hadn't lasted all that long, just a couple of rounds. He was unlucky on where he was put in the draw and held his own alright. He's better with a bow in his hands instead of just simple sparring, sparring is not anywhere near his strength. Jack though, he was doing very well, for the boy who sleeps through all of the training lessons and classroom hours. He lasted until the Quarterfinals and then threw the match because his mother was watching and he knew it.

Jack and his mother did not get a long at all. I personally wasn't a fan of his mother but the Penhallows had been the Consuls for quite some time now. It had been carried down through the family and my family was related to theirs. Jack didn't talk about it but his mother was very hard on him, Alyah Penhallow was the late child of Viviannne Penhallow who didn't have time for her. Jack's mother was too involved with Jack, she was too pushy, too demanding of her son who just wanted to be a normal Shadowhunter child. No matter how many times I told her to stop pushing she just wouldn't listen. It had gotten to the point where she had given up and sent Jack to live with us for months at a time, I didn't care because Jack was happier.

Usually when Jack was at parties or having to show off he threw the whole match because his Mom was watching. This year he actually tried until he remembered where and who he was. I wish he wasn't so miserable around his mother but there was nothing I could do except have my door open for him. Luke and Jack have known each other a very long time. Luke had always been the better fighter (as seen now since he was currently in the semi-finals), Jack had always been smarter. He had always been more strategic.

"Dad! I'm in the finals!" Luke called to me, a cocky grin on his face.

I turned and looked at my son who was covered in sweat who left a crying girl on the mat. She looked very young to be in his division. I sighed, probably some Shadowhunter parent got cocky and put them in wrong on purpose. "Don't get cocky Lucian." I said using his full name so he would listen. "We don't know who you're fighting."

"Actually," a voice came from behind me and my eyes landed on a familiar black eyed and blonde haired girl. "We do know, because he's fighting me." Ronnie said with a smirk in Luke's direction.

This was going to be interesting, Luke and Ronnie against each other. Both of them were arguably the best fighters in this room with each their own style and technique. The problem was, I was worried one of them might kill the other. I kept my expression schooled, if I pulled them out it was going to cause a riot on all sides.

Luke looked shocked but then grinned in her direction as he grabbed a water bottle from a table near by me. "Oh yeah? That's great, because I've been wanting to kick your ass ever since Dad dug you out of the Silent City demon girl."

"Lucian William Herondale," I snapped lowly at him, now was not the time for him to trash talk like this. Especially with the little incident we had a few days ago with Ronnie's eyes turning black from being set off, she couldn't have that happen in front of all these Shadowhunters who weren't her number one fans. "Stop it."

Ronnie, ever the paradox, seemed to take this in stride though. "It's okay Jace," she assured me to my surprise. "I can take it. We'll just see if Luke's pride can take it when I wipe the floor with his insides." She said as if we were talking about the weather and then walked away.

I groaned as Luke followed after her, I needed to find Magnus and a few silent brothers. I'm not sure how much left there was going to be of the two of them at the rate they were going.

(Ronnie's POV)

I had decided I was done with the bullshit of pretending, it was time to kick Luke's ass once and for all, so what if I got hurt because of it. I was standing in the center circle with a big crowd surrounding us. I could see Jace watching the both of us, concern was written all over his face. Jack, Ramon, James, and the rest of the Institute were standing by him. Jack flashed me a thumbs up sign and I rolled my eyes as I looked at Luke. I knew how he fought I watched him train several times, I knew his style. He has seen me train about two times, I had the advantage in that regard. The problem now was, everyone wanted me to lose except maybe Jace and/or Jack. Everyone wanted to see the pure, angel blooded, boy put Sebastian Morgenstern's daughter in her place.

"Whenever you're ready." Consul Penhallow stated from her place at the front of the circle.

Luke didn't have to be told twice, he came charging at me like a bull before taking a swing. I smoothly ducked and side stepped so he wouldn't turn around and immediately charge at me again.

I steadied my breathing, I had been fighting for hours against others and I was a little tired. This was the fight I needed to stay focused on though because if I lost, Luke would never let me hear the end of it. I already disliked my situation, I wasn't in for making it any worse. I could also feel the Consul's eyes on me, and I wanted to have this be a little fuck you to the Consul. The Consul wanted me dead, she wanted to get rid of me like I was just a piece of meat to be discarded. I was more than just a piece of meat.

Luke took another swing at me, but I blocked it and sent a sharp kick to his stomach with careful precision. It hit him hard, and the breath went out of him with a whoosh. I smirked to myself, it caught him completely by surprise that I was able to get a hit on him. I then knocked him down by kicking the back of his legs. I got on top of him and held my elbow to his throat. He was so pissed.

Luke's golden-green eyes looked up at me in rage and I heard clapping. I looked up briefly and saw it was coming from Jace, only. The rest of the Shadowhunters stood there in pure shock, some had looks of rage on their faces. I looked down at Luke who was breathing hard beneath me. "You owe Ramon that 20 bucks," I said getting off of him and offering a hand to help him up.

He refused to take it and went over to Ramon who had his jaw clenched at an angle that couldn't be comfortable. He was hoping his parabatai could beat me, but he failed. Luke fought well but he was one cocky bastard. Prideful too, that's what was going to get him killed.

I turned and looked over at the Consul who standing there stoically before taking a step towards me. "You fight very well," Consul Penhallow informed me as she stopped in front of me. "But you look and fight like a Morgenstern. I don't like that," she sneered.

No one moved a muscle in the circle except Jace. Clary, who had been beside him, just had a shocked expression on her face and was frozen. Jace came over to me and put his his hand on my shoulder which I removed. He looked down at me and sighed before looking into the Consul's green eyes. "Alyah," Jace said with a guarded expression. "She's a girl, a girl who just found out her parentage a couple of weeks ago. She fights like a Shadowhunter, not just a Morgenstern."

Consul Penhallow's eyes narrowed at Jace. "Jace Herondale, you may have done a lot for the Shadowhunter community, but this girl is dangerous. She defeated your son are you not angry?"

Jace laughed at her with a shake of his head. "Of course, I'm not angry. She beat him fair and square, she didn't cheat or anything. She played by the rules. YOUR rules, that's what Ronnie has been doing ever since she has arrived."

Consul Penhallow scowled at the both of us but then sighed. "I want you out of Idris by morning. If you're not, the girl will be escorted to Silent City, my son to Penhallow manor, and your family to a portal to New York."

"Okay, thank you," Jace said his tone neutral, but his eyes told a different story. He was pissed.

"But," Consul Penhallow said looking at me very carefully. "She will wear a tracker rune. One the Silent Brothers put on her so it can't be blocked."

I began to laugh at her and Jace scowled down at me. I thought this whole thing was ridiculous, she _invited_ me here. I didn't show up to crash her party, I was an invited guest to the party. "You act as if I am the enemy. I haven't done ANYTHING but play your game. I'm sorry I am a good fighter and I'm sorry Sebastian Morgenstern maybe my father, but none of that was my choice. So, who do you think you are to treat me like the scum of the earth?" I snapped at her, my eyes filled with anger.

A loud noise echoed through the room as a slap was delivered to my cheek. The slap was hard enough to turn my head but having Mom around taught me how to be stoic when I was punished or attacked. I didn't mind being slapped, it didn't hurt that much, it only cut my lip a little. I could feel Jace tense beside me and the whole room was already tense, but I could see Shadowhunters drawing their weapons and I knew it wasn't to help me.

"Can I please just take her home?" Jace asked her, his voice tense because he was trying to keep calm. He knew she could do anything to me and in his own way, he was trying to protect me.

Consul Penhallow ignored Jace but focused her attention on me instead. "You will respect your elder. Such behaviors will not be tolerated in my city and I will make sure Jace handles it accordingly," Consul Penhallow snarled at me. She then looked up at Jace. "The tracker rune can wait, but your leave cannot. You're lucky I owe you a great deal Jace Herondale or otherwise she would be spending the rest of her short life in Silent City."

"I know, thank you Consul Penhallow," Jace said as he gripped my shoulder leading me over to where Clary and the others waited. Their faces were ashen, they knew they had a big target on their back and it was all my fault. "Thanks for the party."

The trip back to the Institute was silent, no one spoke, not even Magnus or James. Jack walked next to me as we went to a clear spot for Magnus to make a portal, but I could tell he was bemused. Something was on his mind, but I didn't want to know. Getting close to people was the last thing I needed to do, it was clear I wasn't wanted. I needed to get back to Mom, I needed to get back to training for whatever she needed me to do. That was never going to happen though, not while Jace Herondale and his stupid family were still standing.

Once we got back to the Institute I whirled around and looked at Jace. "Thanks for defending me. I so appreciate being slapped in the face for no reason." I sneered at him while his family looked on.

Isabelle stepped forward, I hadn't had much interaction with Ramon's and James's mother but from what I heard she was pretty badass. "Jace had no choice, you heard what the Consul wanted to do to you."

Jace sighed and rubbed the back of his neck when my eyes didn't leave him. "So? He should have let her because anything would have been better then screwing all of you guys over too. I mean seriously, are you an idiot? You know who I am. You know there's something wrong with me, and yet, you always do the stupid thing." I growled at him before turning to his family. "And you all, you just let him screw you all over. You took me in, you should have just given me back to my Mother. Things would have been a lot better for all of us."

This time, Clary came forward. Her firey red hair was in the way of her green eyes but I knew they were focused on me. "Your Mother is not your real family! I'm your real family! Jace's your real family! You were living a lie, and I know this is hard to believe but when I was your age I was living a lie too until I saw Jace at a club and my whole world did a 180." She said looking over at her husband who nodded to say he was in support of her. "Why do you think we fought so hard to get you here? You're not Sebastian Morgenstern, you're Ronnie Morgenstern. You can have a nice life, you don't have to live with a monster anymore." She said in a gentle voice like I was a wounded animal.

During this speech, Alec had ushered the kids out of the room with Simon and Isabelle leaving me with just Jace, Clary, and Magnus to duke this out. I moved a stray piece of hair out of my face as I watched the back of Jack's head as he went out of the room. I turned back to them. "My Mom is not a monster. She raised me a best as she could. She was preparing me for real life, for when I was going to be ready to fulfill my destiny she was supposed to reveal to me in a few weeks."

Magnus shook his head as he stepped forward. "Ronnie," Magnus began slowly, he may look 18 or 19 but I knew he was much older. His cat like eyes held a sort of wisdom to them. "I have lived for a very long time and I have known Lillith almost as long as I have been alive. I don't know how you are Sebastian's kid, but you are. Lillith had no good intentions about you. You were a means to an end, she would have fed you to the wolves if she needed you to be."

I shook my head, deep down I knew it was true, but Mom had painted this pretty picture that once I had fulfilled my destiny we would spend some real time together. I wouldn't have to train as much anymore, and she would be around more. There would be no more test or punishments when I failed, there would just be paradise. All I had to do was get through these next few years.

"Lillith is great at manipulating things." Jace jumped in his golden eyes drawing my dark ones in. "She did it to your father, and your father used her magic to manipulate me for some time. She is a puppet master, we saved you from dying or being a puppet." He said and then turned to his wife who touched his shoulder gently. "I know more than anyone else, what it's like to be lied to and manipulated by someone you thought you loved."

"You all don't know anything about me besides who my father may have been. All you think you know is my Mom is some kind of demon named Lillith. You know nothing of my life, of who I am, you just assume you know me. That's the problem with you Shadowhunters, you are always assuming things." I said before walking away to my room, I needed some time alone.

(Jace's POV)

I started after her before Magnus reached out to me with a careful hand. "Let her go, she needs sometime to process and you storming in with more information and what she thinks as bullshit, is not going to help." Magnus informed me and I sighed taking a step back.

"It's so frustrating!" Clary exploded her green eyes looking into mine. "We have done everything for her, we have fed her, clothed her, gave her a place to sleep! Then she goes and is ungrateful! She thinks we're the monsters." Clary said running a hand through her red hair.

"Clary," Magnus said with a sigh. "She has been conditioned all of her life to have a certain mindset just as Jace had and even you for some time had. You need to give it some time to break down her walls."

I looked over at the two of them. I trusted Alec more than Magnus since he was my parabatai but on all things Morgenstern, Magnus was the right guy to consult. Alec wasn't so great with feelings or things that were unpredictable, Magnus was his softer side. It's why they made such a great team.

"I saw some of her softer side today." I informed both of them, and they both looked at me in surprise. "I watched her laugh and joke around a little with Jack. It was brief, and her humor was morbid, but it was better than the stoic show, we have been getting."

Magnus took this in and Clary had a hopeful look on her face as if this was something huge. Magnus turned to me and sighed. "I can't say for sure if this is a good sign or not, I think it is but Morgensterns are unpredictable. They are a different breed just as Herondales are. They are tormented, especially the recent generations, like your family line. They have a very dark history and Ronnie is no exception." He reasoned before turning to my wife. "Even you, Clary, have a little dark in you. It's part of being a Morgenstern."

Clary sighed, she knew this. She talked about this, but what balanced out her dark was her Fairchild blood. There was more Fairchild in her than Morgenstern. "I guess I lucked out with only a little torment," she said with a small smile in my direction.

Magnus smiled a little at the both of us. "Yes, you did. Ronnie has not been so lucky. We need to be patient and watch for signs of lack of impulse control. The demon blood in her veins can make empathy and sympathy extremely difficult and it's very hard for someone in Ronnie's place to sometimes take the right course of action. When she's ready to open up, she will. We just need to safely wait it out."

I nodded my head in agreement. "Let's go make sure the rest of the kids are alright." I said to Clary before turning to Magnus. "Can you keep an eye on her? Maybe listen from your office?"

Magnus nodded his head and Clary and I began to walk. "Jace," Magnus called out and I turned to him. "Don't push too hard and don't try to pry her open, it will only make her lock herself up even tighter."


	15. New Rules

**TW: Self harming but it's not out of the usual reason. I hope you enjoy the story. Enjoy! lolamay101**

(Chapter 15)

(Ronnie's POV)

I hadn't come out of my room, not even when Luke called for dinner the next day. I didn't want to face Jace or the others. I didn't want to talk about yesterday or any other day that I have been here. I want to go home. I don't belong here, for a brief moment I felt like I fitted in. but I knew I was only kidding myself. The only thing people see in me is a monster. I didn't belong anywhere, not even with Mom.

I was sitting on my bed with a knife sitting in front of me. There was something appealing about pain, there always had been for me. It had always been more soothing then comfort because it made me feel something so intensely. So, I had torn up my arms, that was another reason I didn't go out of my room. Mom always just shrugged when she saw it sometimes she even encouraged it, she said it would make me stronger and to cut deeper. She wanted to see how long it would take me to heal and how I could fight with wounds.

Mom also used it as a form of punishment for me. When I messed up she would tell me to go up to my room and give myself x amount, of deep cuts on the arm. I learned to like the pain I guess, and I think this was a way of punishing myself to stay sane. It's not like I didn't deserve it. I may have won but I disappointed my mother by letting Jace Herondale stand up for me. Mom always taught me that no one would come to save me and not to let anyone. It was an insult, it was saying they thought you were weak and if there was something I was not, it was weak.

I looked down at my arms, cuts overlapped at each other in kind of a soothing pattern. Blood had crusted over my arm and made everything much worse than it actually was. There was a knock on the door and my head snapped up to see Jack standing in the door way with a sandwich in his hand with a glass of water. Both went tumbling to the floor when he saw me.

"Jack-" I started out but trailed off when all I could see was fear on his face.

"Jace!" Jack yelled, and he took off running off in some direction before I could stop him.

"Shit," I said running a hand through my hair, I couldn't hide this from him. These people thought my customs as different and they would probably find this different seeing Jack's face.

I heard pounding feet coming down the hallway and Jace, Alec, Magnus, and Clary came bursting into my room. Jace kept his face blank but there was confusion in his eyes while Alec had a huge frown on his face. Magnus's face was set in a grim line while Clary had her hand over her mouth at the sight of me.

"By the angel, what did you do?" Clary asked her voice strained as she shakily pointed a finger at my arm.

"You're insane," Alec said, his blue eyes looking into my dark ones. "You're absolutely insane. Why would you do this? What's the point of doing that?"

"Alec!" Clary snapped at him, her green eyes looking at him in rage. "Don't be insensitive."

I sighed standing up and grabbing the knife. The whole room tensed, and I rolled my eyes. "As fun as this is, I'm not in the mood to get yelled at, so I'm leaving." I said, and I pushed past them ignoring the voices that called out to me.

I took off running and went to the last place someone would look for me, which was the garden. I had stumbled upon the garden a few days prior to the Idris incident. It was quiet, and it seemed not to get much foot traffic, so I came here to think when no one was around. I felt less homesick being here then surrounded by stone walls and people I didn't know.

I went up to the highest point of the garden and put my hands on the railing that overlooked New York. I didn't understand this city because of the people here. People moved around like they hadn't got a care in the world, I had read in the book Jace gave me that they couldn't see us because they were mundanes. I found that odd there were so many different people that I had never even heard about. Or that I was as different as I was. I had a lot of questions and they were mainly for Mom.

I heard someone come up beside me and I knew it was Jace because they probably wouldn't trust anyone to talk to me about what they saw. Jace was some sort of God in this world, otherwise I would have died in Idris. I guess I should thank him, but I didn't want to. He pissed me off in ways I couldn't even manage to describe if I tried. He thought he knew me, but he didn't, but he had been protecting me.

"I'm not here to yell at you," Jace stated as he folded his arms over the railing like I had mine. "Or to be a pain in the ass or get on your nerves. I'm just here to listen."

I snorted at him. "Jace, that's something you don't do very well." I said glancing at him and his face formed one of surprise. "You're a pain in the ass, you get on my nerves, and you don't always listen, but you have never yelled at me." I informed as I ticked off what he said on my fingers.

Jace sighed but an amused look came into his eyes. "You know that wasn't the point, and Clary wanted me to be gentle." He snorted but he grabbed my arm where the cuts were. "When did you start this habit?" He asked me.

I didn't know how to explain it to him, but I guess the blunt truth would do. "My mother taught me how to enjoy pain. This was a punishment she used for minor offenses. I deserve way more of a punishment than this for what happened yesterday, but I didn't know what else to do."

A troubled look passed over Jace's face and he reached out to touch my arm, but I flinched away from him. He sighed as he retracted arm. "Well you know you don't have to do that anymore, right?" Jace asked me, his golden eyes finding my onyx ones.

"When I get home, she will have expected that I had kept up her rules." I said with a shrug. I was just daring him to say that I wasn't going home.

Jace shook his head in response to me. "Well, here, you don't need to do that. Actually, I would like you not to do it. It's harmful and useless here, I'm not your mother but I expect you to follow my rules," Jace said seriously.

I haven't seen this side of Jace before, the one who could actually communicate with me. The mushy gushy Jace that Clary likes doesn't work for me. I'm used to being yelled at, having things bluntly put to me, and having rules as well as limits.

"My rules are simple," Jace said watching me with his golden eyes. "Go to training, go to class, listen to me and other adults, don't hit someone just because you have a problem with them, and if there something you need to be punished for I will let you know and I will dish it out. In conclusion, stop taking everything into your own hands and pissing people off."

I laughed lightly but my eyes showed I was thankful. "Got it," I informed him with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Also, I want you to call me Uncle Jace like Ramon and James do, because I am your Uncle and Clary is your Aunt. Just call everyone Aunt and Uncle who are older than you." Jace said with a wave of his hand.

I wrinkled my nose at that. "Why do I have to do that? Why can't I call you Jace like Jack does?" I asked him in disdain of the names.

Jace simply shook his head. "I have known Jack for years, but he's not family. You are. You also need to do it to save your skin so the Consul thinks you are getting attached even if you are not."

I sighed, he was right of course. That didn't mean I liked feeding into the Consul's ways but after Idris and basically getting kicked them out of their homeland I owed them. "Alright...J….Uncle Jace." I corrected myself quickly with a shake of my head.

"Good," Jace said taking my arm quickly. He didn't even give me time to protest. He got out a stele and began to draw a rune, I still haven't memorized them yet. "And Ronnie, you should never have to do this. I don't care what your mother says, hurting yourself is barbaric and if she was half decent she would know that." He finished the rune with a flourish and I watched as my skin began to heal.

I wasn't sure how to feel about his words. Jace was kind but he was also a pain in the ass. Mom wasn't always kind, but she was never a pain in the ass. I didn't know what was the lesser of the two demons.

I simply retracted my arm and turned back to look at the city line. "Why do you care so much?" I finally asked him after a few minutes of us standing there in silence.

Jace looked grabbed my upper arm and made me look at him. "I guess a part of me feels guilty because I wasn't there when you were young, and you were raised by a monster," Jace said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Also, because you're my blood, even if I am not big on who your father is. You are my niece and I owe it to you to make sure you have the best life you can possibly have in the position you are in."

I listened, what he said was nice. But it didn't change anything. "That's nice, Uncle Jace," I said nearly spitting out the name but managing to keep my tone civil. "But I never asked for a hero, hell, I never even thought I would want one."

Jace sighed shaking his head. "You don't understand now, or agree with me, but you will later. I can promise you that." Jace informed me as he turned on his heel. "Come on, we need to get inside. You have training."

"I don't need training, I fight perfectly fine." I said dragging my feet after him. I wiped the floor with Jonathan if anyone needed training he did.

"Ronnie," Jace said as he held the door open for me. I walked through it and he shut it behind himself as he took off towards the training room. "Everyone needs training. You maybe equip in a fight but the Shadow world you are blind to."

I snorted as we rounded a corner and ended up into an empty training room. "Where's everyone else?" I asked him as I stood waiting for him to give instructions.

"They have already done their training for today." Jace said with a shrug as he gestured for me to come over. "Climb up to the rafters." He instructed me giving me a rope to tie around myself just in case an injury did happen.

I sighed doing as I was told. Climbing wasn't a hard thing for me, so I got up there relatively quick. I looked down at Jace who was down below, he had tied the rope down and had done his own before climbing the rafters on the other end. "What's the point of this?!" I questioned him with a cross expression on my face. I was tired of everyone just throwing things at me and not telling me what was going on.

"We're sparring," Jace said with a simple shrug as he threw a spar stick at me and I caught it in midair. "It's what a hunt is like. You're not always going to be on the ground and you're not always going to be able to expect what someone else's move is going to be." He told me as he started coming at me.

"Fuck," I swore under my breath as I began jumping from rafter to rafter trying to keep my balance at the same time watch Jace.

I barely caught his stick when he brought it down at an alarming pace. He was as fast as Luke, if not a little faster. I sighed as I zeroed in on Jace as pushed his body against mine, he threw me back a pace and it took me a second to regain my balance and, in that time, Jace had brought the stick down on me. I swore softly, I hated being hit around.

"Watch what you are doing." Jace scolded as he backed up and gave me a second to get my wits about me.

I have never done this type of exercise before, Mr. Dearborn never covered fighting on beams. I have worked on beams before, but I have never fought on them, it was always about jumping and being silent while I moved. Jace had a whole new perspective on training, and it was very annoying.

I came at him again and when I jumped in midair he struck me down. Luckily the rope caught me, and I was hovering right above the ground and right in front of Jack fucking Penhallow. Jack looked surprised, but he smirked at me. "Having fun?" He teased me.

I searched his face for any signs of what happened earlier, but I didn't see any. "It's just a blast," I grumbled as I undid my rope and landed on my two feet right in front of him.

"Looks like," Jack said waving up at Jace, who I could tell had a smug expression on his face. He then looked back down at me. "Don't worry, we all get our asses kicked by Jace up there. The old fart is like a freaking ninja." Jack said with a wave of his hand.

"What was that?" Jace asked as he came down and looked at Jace with a look that just begged him to challenge him.

"I was just talking about how great of a teacher you are." Jack lied smoothly with an innocent grin in Jace's direction.

"At least make it believable." Jace snorted in his direction before he turned to me. "Good enough for today, tomorrow we'll do something else. Get some rest and take care of yourself." He said reaching out to ruffle my hair, but I ducked out of his way.

"Okay," I said simply, I didn't give him much of a reaction. I could feel Jack looking between us as if he had seen this interaction before.

Jace sighed and shook his head. He left it at that though. I don't think that him setting boundaries and rules is just going to magically make me want to love where I am and want to obey his every whim. I hated this place because I didn't know how to deal with the playing field. I knew nothing about this place and this history, Mom never told me. She didn't prepare me for this and I think that's what annoys me the most that she didn't even talk about this part of my life.

"You and Jace are still butting heads?" Jack asked me as I began to walk out of the training room.

"Yeah, I butt heads with everyone here." I said with a simple shrug as he fell in step beside me. "Jace thinks that I am just going to trip over myself to please him, that I'm going to be so excited that this family I never knew about stole me from the one I have always known. He thinks I'm going to be happy to be a prisoner and to be hated by everyone in this world." I said shaking my head in amusement.

Jack shook his head from beside me. "Jace can be a piece of work sometimes but he does care. He grew up a lot like you except he came to the Lightwoods when he was ten. He doesn't really talk about Sebastian or Valentine, he has been talking about it so much now because you're here. He wants you to know about-"

"About how much of a monster my father was?" I interrupted him, and Jack pursed his lips as if he didn't know how to reply to that. "Trust me, I know, I mean every day I'm reminded about how Jace was my savior. Oh, I'm sorry, I meant Uncle Jace." I said with a roll of my eyes. "The thing is, none of you know anything about me. Everyone just ASSUMES something is wrong with me. They ASSUME that I love it here so much more. They ASSUME just because my father did something so terrible that I will too. No one has even bothered to sit down and have a simple conversation with me." I barked out a laugh, I was on a roll now. "No one has bothered to ask me about ANYTHING they just tell me what to do and what happened to me."

Jack sucked in a harsh breath as if he was trying to formulate a reply. His green eyes watched my black ones. "It's not fair," Jack said simply with a shrug. "But the Clave is afraid of you. It's not your fault but you even being alive terrifies them because Sebastian hurt a lot of people. No one asks you anything because it's out of fear. If you were related to any other Shadowhunter, life wouldn't be this way."

"I'm just so sick of being put into a box." I sighed taking in what he said, Jack was smarter than I gave him credit for.

"I know how you feel," Jack said with a nod of his head. "Being the Consul's son means that I'm put on a pedestal and I am expected to be great at everything. I can't trust that people are really my friends because they might just be trying to get a status boost from being friends with the Consul's son." Jack said running a hand through his hair and looking over at me. "I'm not the expected villain but the expected hero, and I just want to be normal."

For once, someone actually said something that stayed with me. I resisted the urge to point out the obvious that he had it easier, because I needed friends here. Jack was the only person who actually attempted to talk with me like I was an equal, he was a pain in the ass, but he was there. I had to take all the friends I could get at the moment because I had an official score of zero. Well, now one if you counted Jack.


	16. Parents

**So I know this is shorter than usual and I'm sorry. School is kicking my butt. Enjoy! Thanks for reading! LolaMay101**

(Chapter 16)

(Ronnie's POV)

I found myself back in that elegant red dress and back in that modern apartment I had first met my Dad in. I reached and touched the braid that was in my hair uncomfortably. Last time I was here, I had refused to comply with his demands and that didn't go so well for me. It seemed like even though I knew it was all in my head, he was able to cause physical harm to my body.

This time, instead of in the living room I was in the kitchen. I was sitting at the brown, round, wooden kitchen table with my legs crossed. I turned and looked to see Sebastian Morgenstern in the kitchen cooking a meal. The kitchen was a good size, it had two ovens, a double sink, lots of storage space, an island, and other things. I watched him with dark eyes, but he didn't acknowledge me yet and I didn't acknowledge him. It was almost like a game of seeing who could go longer without acknowledging the other.

He finally turned around with two plates in his hands loaded with a grilled cheese with tomatoes and ham in it. He placed one in front of me before sitting down across from me with his own. "It's nice to see you again, Roland." Sebastian said looking up at me as he took a bite of his sandwich. "I made your favorite." 

I simply pushed the sandwich away and folded my hands on the table. "What do you want now?" I asked him with my eyes narrowed. Last time I was here, he demanded I helped him with bringing himself back to life and wasn't too pleased when I refused.

Sebastian smirked in my direction, and any other time I might have found the smirk charming, but I knew it was just devious. "I just want to get to know my daughter, is that such a crime?" He said as he took a bite of his grilled cheese.

"You clearly already think you know me if you knew my favorite food." I said carefully as I crossed my legs.

Sebastian chuckled, his black eyes glittering at me. "I know things that your mother has told me, but I am sure there are things about you I have no idea about."

I simply sat there as I took that in, I had always dreamed of meeting my Dad. I was told he was a great warrior, someone to look up to. Now that I was sitting across from him, I could tell I was looking the devil in the eye. "You don't need to know anything about me because it's not important to you. You just want something from me. That's why I was born, wasn't it?" I asked him boldly.

Sebastian shook his head in disappointment. "You should really respect your elders, Roland." He clicked his tongue in disapproval. "You were born because you are my link to the outside world. You are so much more important than you realize. Not just to me, but to everyone. Even the Herondales, I doubt Jace has figured out why though. He was always a bit lost in his own destruction, a bit like you ksnow." He said with a sneer.

"And what makes me so important?" I asked unable to resist myself because he baited me so easily. He knew exactly what to say to get right under my skin and make me go down his path.

Sebastian smirked because he knew he had me. "You'll see one day. Once you revive me from the dead, you'll see."

"Like that will ever happen." I quipped back as I crossed my legs roughly, I knew he was still trying to push his orginal point. His first tactic didn't work so he was trying a new one.

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders as he finished up his grilled cheese. "If you revive me, you can have everything you ever wanted. You can have a family. Just like you dreamed about, not someone who leaves you alone with a bunch of strangers all the time." Sebastian said leaning across the table slightly, his eyes dancing with mischief. "I could even introduce you to your real mother, if you wanted her to be a part of our family."

What did he mean real mother? Magnus had mentioned Lillith couldn't be my mother, but it hadn't really processed since I have found out my father is a crazy, lunatic who wants to burn down the world. "Tell me who my real mother is." I demanded of him, my eyes narrowing in anger.

Sebastian grinned because he had me trapped in his web and he knew it. "Not until you do something for me." Sebastian said as he stood up and took the plates out of the way. "You see, Roland, this is called bartering. You give me something and I'll give you something. Help me finish what I started, and I will introduce you to your mother."

I shook my head, this was information overload, so I couldn't dwell on the feelings. I had to stick to the facts. "How do you even know where she is or that she is still alive?" I asked him with a cross of my arms.

Sebastian grinned back at me. "The greatest thing about having Lillith raise you, is that she could keep tabs on those who were of use to me. Your mother is growing older now, but she is very much alive." 

I watched him, something was off about this. I thought when people had kids they cared about the kids and each other. All Sebastian seemed to care about was using my mother and me. "Do you even love her?" I scoff at him.

Sebastian tilted his head after he finished the dishes and dried his hands. He seemed to be really considering this. "The only one I love is Clarissa, your mother was just a means to an end. I kept her alive more as…motivation for you." Sebastian said not so eloquently.

I felt shock and anger set in, this man was a monster. All he wanted to do was hurt, control, and damage anything and everything in his path. He did say he loved someone, that gave me a little hope, not much but a little.

"Whose Clarissa?" I asked him, if I could find Clarissa I could beat him at his own game.

"You already know." Sebastian said with a lazy wave of his hand as he started back towards the table. "Now, that's enough questions for you. Now, you bring me back or you will never meet your mother. The choice is yours." He said as he stopped in front of me. "Oh, and please do tell dear Clarissa and Jace hello."

That's when it dawned on me who he was talking about. 

I woke up in a pool of sweat and my breathing was rugged. I sat up from where I was laying down and ran a hand through my messy, blonde, hair. I really needed to somehow get a security system for my dreams. I did not enjoy the late night visits from Sebastian. I didn't even understand how he was doing it. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know. He would sacrifice an innocent puppy if that's what it took for him to get to what he needed to. That man was blinded by greed.

I got up and got dressed. I couldn't tell anyone about the dreams for now. I needed to figure something out before I said anything because they would lock me up or have me killed. I wasn't sure what was more dangerous, Sebastian or the Clave. Both wanted to use me and get me killed. The Clave thought I came from the deepest pit of hell and I was out to destroy them all, and Sebastian thought I was going to tempt fate by bringing him back to life.

Through all the things I have read, I have found that it's better for things that are dead to stay dead. Dead things coming back to life just screamed something worse is coming. This was already bad enough, I didn't need the backlash of Sebastian suddenly being able to walk, talk, and disrupt everything he could. Not sleeping I could handle, but that lunatic all the time? Not so much.

I sighed as I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I needed to put on a good show, the Herondales were really good at picking out things that were wrong. Especially Jace, since he was paranoid. The one who I needed to hide from the most though, was Jack. The guy sees right through me. I don't understand how he does it. I make sure to keep people at a distance because no one takes the time to get to know me. Even when I was living with Lillith who is not truly my mother.

Also, who the hell does Sebastian Morgenstern thinks he is for dangling my real mother in front of me like a piece of meat? I needed to find a way to get rid of this guy for good but also find my real Mom. I wanted to at least meet her, like I wanted to at least meet my Dad. I met him. I don't like him, so I don't need to see him again. I would just like to catch a glimpse of her and ask her some questions. Like, why didn't she keep me? How did she become involved with Sebastian? Why did she let Lillith take me? Just normal stuff that any kid who doesn't know their parent wants to ask. I just hope I live long enough and stay sane long enough to actually achieve my goal.


	17. Trauma

**It's been forever! Life is a nightmare! Sorry! Enjoy! LolaMay101**

(Chapter 17)

(Ronnie's POV)

It had been 24 hours since I had the dream about Sebastian and I was currently sitting on my bed and looking up at the ceiling. I didn't want to fall asleep. I knew if I went back to sleep there was a chance that I would have to go back to that apartment and play the game with Sebastian. Talking with Sebastian was like playing poker with the devil, you knew no matter what hand you had, he had a better one. Sebastian knew just how to hit you where it hurt, and he knew how to do it where you could never see it coming. He was the worst kind of snake.

I sighed as I exited my room, I knew how to hide sleep deprevation. Mom taught me that when she had me stay up three nights straight as a training exercise. It made me physically sick, but it also made me stronger. At this point and time, I needed all the strength I could get.

I went down into the dining room where everyone was already gathered. There was a woman and a man, they were an older couple standing and talking to Clary and Jace while everyone else rushed around trying to get breakfast prepared. The woman had red hair that was greying for the most part and the man just had grey hair, but his features weren't completely wilting away like some peoples. They each looked worn though, as if they had lived two or three life times.

I looked over at the table where Tessa and James were playing rock, paper, scissors while they waited for breakfast. Across from them was Ramon and Luke who were deep in conversation about something, but I could imagine what. Luke couldn't have an intellectual conversation even if he tried. Luke was muscle, but he wasn't brains. Ramon had some brains, but he didn't use them effectively which was a shame because he had potential.

Jack was sitting next to Luke and I could feel his eyes on me. We hadn't talked much in the last couple of days. Both of us had something going on. Jack had his Mom and I had my Dad, but my Dad was dead and could only haunt me in my sleep. Jack wasn't so lucky. Jack couldn't shut his mother off, at least she wasn't at the Institute he got a little peace from her. From what I have overheard, she wasn't the most mothering figure. I also experienced that woman's slap, it's not something I would like to repeat. I can handle pain, but she made me an even bigger target than I already am.

"Oh, my Angel, you were right." A loud, female voice broke its way through my thoughts.

I turned to look at the older woman who was using the older man to keep herself balanced. I took a step toward her and she took a step back as if I was a ghost from a distant nightmare. Clary took a step towards me but Jace reached out and touched her hand and they exchanged looks as if they had their own form of communication no one knew about.

"Ronnie, this is Jocelyn Fairchild-Garroway and this is Luke Garroway. Jocelyn is your grandmother." Jace introduced me to them, Luke didn't seem to mind me, but Jocelyn's face was full of terror.

I imagined my face mirrored hers. I didn't know my father's mother was alive. This meant she had answers and she better be open to sharing them. I want her to tell me everything, I want her to explain more about Valentine and Sebastian, there were things I'm sure Jace kept hidden from me. I deserved to know though, I had to know to be able to track down my mother.

I offered my hand out to her. "Nice to meet you." I said turning on a charming smile.

Jocelyn didn't seem to think it was so charming because she was trembling. She was either terrified of me or wanted to kill me or both. It was probably both. "I'm sorry, I can't do this." Jocelyn said and gracefully left the room.

I shrugged my shoulders as I sat down at the table. I would get my answers from her, one way or another. She might not be a fan of me, but I was kind of apathetic to her. She had something I wanted so I was going to get it and what happened to her next didn't matter.

By this point, food had been laid out on the table. I didn't have the time to feel hurt by Jocelyn Fairchild. I had much bigger and more dangerous fish to fry. I picked up a piece of toast and began to chew. I looked over and the whole room was looking at me like I was some weird creature from the other world.

Looks like I couldn't even eat. I was some weird creature from another world and just because I didn't get upset when my supposed to be Grandmother walked out of the room because she couldn't stand the sight of me, I am now an even bigger freak? I mean, how big of a freak can I get? I have demon blood in my veins, my father is speaking to me in my sleep, my father tried to burn down the world, and everyone is not who they say they are.

I stood up from seat. "I'm taking a walk." I announced and stomped out of the room at a quick pace.

I was frustrated. I was frustrated with the situation with Jace and his family, my own family, and myself. And where is the best way to take out frustrations? The training room, because no one will question it. Mom's methods, she's not even my Mother anymore, were questionable but they worked. Frustration and lashing out was punished and that punishment almost always made things better. I can't do that here, though. It freaks people out.

I went into the training room and began to hit the crap out of the punching bag that was hanging near one of the corners of the room. I punched and kicked in a flurry of motion that communicated all the built up rage that I hadn't really let out. Here, in this place, with these people, I couldn't show my true self. Well, I could show very little of it. The only person who has seen a little bit of the real me was Jack because he actually cared to look. No one tried to look past the black eyes and insanity, all they saw was Sebastian Morgenstern's daughter.

When I finally stopped, sweat poured down my face and my breath was coming out fast. I couldn't tell you how long I had been going, but I had been going long enough for my knuckles to start to bruise. I looked down at them and shook my head. "Damn it." I sighed as I turned around when I caught the sight of Jace observing me with a neutral expression.

"What do you want?" I snapped at him, I didn't have time for Herondale babble at the moment. I had more to think about than Jace and his obsession with wanting to know me.

Jace shrugged and began to speak. I didn't hear any of it though because there was a figure who appeared beside him. The figure was tall, male, blonde haired, black eyed and had a familiar smirk on his face. Sebastian Morgenstern gave me a little wave and I stood watching him without moving.

What the hell was he doing here? He couldn't be here. He said he was stuck in some limbo. So how was he standing next to Jace. I could tell that he wasn't fully there but some of him was definitely was. So not only was sleeping a one way trip to Sebastian land but being awake was too.

Jace seemed to catch on that I was not paying attention to him because he snapped his fingers in front of my face tearing my icy stare away from Sebastian. "What were you looking at?" Jace quizzed me, his golden eyes searching my face for an answer.

"Nothing," I snapped back looking back quickly to see Sebastian had disappeared. I must have just imagined him. I hadn't gotten any sleep, so it must be the exhaustion getting to me. "Absolutely nothing at all."

Jace sighed but dropped it, he knew not to fight me on it though. "Are you okay? I know it was probably a little traumatic with Jocelyn acting the way she did."

"Traumatic?" I asked him with a laugh of disbelief. "You call that traumatic? No, what was traumatic is when your…your community stole me from my own home and then locked me up like I was some animal. I can't go anywhere without my jailers. I have no life now, Jace. Oh sorry, Uncle Jace." I said with a roll of my eyes at the last part. "I might as well just run out of here now so that the Clave will kill me and put me out of my misery."

Jace took all of this in, his face was neutral as he thought about his next response. "I am well aware you hate it here. You never let anyone forget, but I want you to think about this: I am your family. Clary is your family. We are your real family. The little lie Lillith put in your head is what it is, a lie."

"You can't expect me to just frollock through the fields with you guys just because you say that." I shot back with a shake of my head. Jace was seriously delusional.

Jace ran a hand through his hair. "You're right and I don't expect that." Jace said pausing so it could sink in. "But I do expect you to try. I expect you to not be such a pain in the ass. We've been over this Ronnie, damn it. You can't act this way and expect people to want you around. Your behavior makes people anxious." He said bluntly with a shrug of his shoulders.

I ground my teeth in rage. How dare he tell me what to do? And how dare he blame this on me? "You made me this way. Your people caused this mess, so you can deal with the consequences." I growled at him in anger.

Jace let out a breath as he seemed to change his approach. "Look, I know how you feel. I was dropped off at the Lightwoods when I was ten. I found out my whole life was a lie at age 17. I know how you feel, trust me." Jace said shaking his head. "But, that does not give you an excuse to lash out and hurt others. Today, you didn't, you just walked out with an attitude. But every day you have."

I shook my head as I began walking towards the door. "Leave me alone, if you know what's good for you, you won't come near me tonight." I said as I left the room with Jace staring after me.


	18. Hell

**This is not my best work but two pretty long updates I think makes up for the time I was MIA. Enjoy! LolaMay101**

(Chapter 18)

(Ronnie's POV)

"Stay out of my day to day life you, crazy son of a bitch." I said as I appeared in my father's living room.

I had allowed myself to fall asleep this time because I was pissed. The more I thought about his appearance the more I knew it couldn't be I hallucinated him through exhaustion because he was so vivid. The way he taunted me as well suggested this was some sort of trick he pulled to mess with me.

Sebastian was standing in the middle of the living room with a pleased smirk on his face. "Now Rolland, is that anyway to talk to your father?" He sneered at me, he liked this. This was a game to him. I was about to show him how much of a game I thought this was.

"Start acting like a father and I will start treating you like one." I sneered mirroring his own look.

Jace was really onto something when he said I looked just like my father. Our hair was the same, our mouths, noses, everything was pretty much the same except he had a penis and I had a vagina. Which is disturbing to think about. Everything is the same except our hormonal make up which is insane.

"Touche, was it a bad day at the Institute?" Sebastian asked me mockingly, as if that was going to help his case of getting him out of whatever limbo he is in.

"That's none of your damn business. You're lucky I don't put a knife through your head right now." I growled at him, my black eyes were like flickering flames. I was just dying for him to dare me to do it. Let him doubt me, we'll see whose laughing when he never gets out of this limbo and I walk out of here unscathed.

Sebastian laughed shaking his head. He began to walk around me like I was his prey he had trapped. "Rolland I would watch yourself." Sebastian said before knocking me to the ground so fast I couldn't even blink. His boot was pressed up to my throat and a cocky glint was in his eye. "Or you might be the one who does not come out of this alive." He said with a grin.

I struggled against him but he Sebastian simply pressed his black boot harder on my throat. "Let's get one thing straight little girl," Sebastian snarled down at me in a patronizing tone and his black eyes alight with the thrill of the game. "You're the child. I am the parent. You will do what I say or you won't like what happens next." Sebastian said with a shrug of his shoulders and a charming smirk.

"Over my dead body." I snarled at him, my black eyes looking into his. "You will never, ever, be counted as a parent to me."

Sebastian shrugged his shoulders as he looked down at me. "Have it your way then." He said pulling me up by my hair and dragging me along as I bucked and tried to get free.

One thing was for sure, he was right that I didn't like what happened next.

I woke up in the Institute with the searing pain of the whip still singing in my blood. It was almost like the marks carried over from wherever the hell Sebastian was stuck at. I reached under my shirt and touched my back. I felt an unpleasant wet and stick substance come onto my hand as I retracted it from my back. I looked down at my hand and saw there was a fair amount of blood on it.

I quickly moved towards the mirror wincing at the feeling of my movements. It hurt to move. It was as if the whip was still coming down on my back even though I knew it wasn't. I went to the bathroom mirror and lifted up my shirt and saw the angry, bloody marks that Sebastian's whip left on my skin. "Crap," I grumbled as I stared at the marks.

Those marks definitely needed medical attention, but I couldn't tell anyone. What could I do? I really didn't have any options but to suffer through the day and hope that I didn't bleed too much. I couldn't risk anyone finding out about Sebastian, my fate would be even worse than it already is. It really sucks to be the daughter of a crazy, psycho killer.

I managed to get through the sitting part of my day okay. Alec and I had gotten into a screaming match that Jace had to break up because it was getting really intense. Alec and I didn't agree on…well…anything. Alec could tell me to go left and I would go right just to drive him crazy because he was constantly giving me chores. I felt like I was his maid, and this was who Jace had chosen to be his best friend. I think that is insane someone like Jace is so close with someone like Alec. They were two very different personality types and they both annoyed me to no end.

What wasn't so great was the actual training part. I was doing alright so far. We were just throwing knives so I had to hide my wincing whenever I had to move my back to get a good shot at the target. What wasn't so great was when we started sparring. Today, I was sparring against Luke.

"You're going down Morgenstern." Luke said a smirk appearing on his face. He was determined to beat me for every time I had beaten him which was every so far.

"You said that yesterday." I said with a lazy roll of my eyes. I could feel Jace's eyes on me, he knew something was up. My back was killing me, the knives really had caused me a fair amount of pain.

I prided myself on having a strong pain tolerance but this pain? It wasn't getting any better than from this morning, but it wasn't getting any worse either. The pain made everything harder, and I was used to pain. I was used to be challenged to where I was crying but there was something different about this mess.

Luke and I began sparring but it was really not a good match. I simply blocked his blows every time not even caring to put out my own attack. I didn't feel good, I just wanted this to end so I could lay down. I wanted to lay down without my shirt so I could air out my wounds.

Jace was not so pleased with this result. "Ronnie, you can do better than that. You're just standing there. Luke, stop messing around." Jace had barked at the both of us as he turned around and looked over at Jack and Ramon.

"Guess I'll finish this." Luke said with a smirk.

Luke came at me and tackled me to the ground and I let him. I was beyond the point of caring, when I did care was when my back hit the ground, because it felt like fire had crawled up my body. I let out a noise of pain and scooted away from Luke when he got cocky, but he dragged me back.

"What's wrong with you Morgenstern? I finally beat you and you just don't want to tap out?" He mocked me as I kicked at him with a pain stricken expression crossing my face.

All of a sudden, someone tackled Luke off of me and I scooted away to the end of the matt so I could recover. I looked over and I saw Jack kicking the crap out of Luke while Ramon tried to stop him. Finally, Jace got involved and sent Luke and Ramon to the infirmary to fix themselves up before turning to me.

"What in the angel's name was that Jack?" Jace yelled at him, his face pulled up in anger. "That was so out of line and you know it. If he was beating Ronnie, then good for him. You don't just go and start kicking the crap out of your peers!"

I coughed lightly, trying to clear my throat and to bring some comfort to myself as Jack spoke. "I did that because the idiot didn't notice she was bleeding and obviously in pain. Look!" Jack growled at Jace and I was losing so much blood and in pain I couldn't respond.

Jace frowned as he leaned over and a surprised breath went out of his lungs. "Jack get Magnus! Now!" Jace barked at him and that was enough to send Jack scrambling out of the room.

Jace turned to me and shook his head. "Ronnie, I'm going to have to lift your shirt up to see what is going on and you're going to have to let me. Got it?" Jace said his golden eyes meeting my black ones. I think this was Jace's version of asking for permission.

I took a deep breath as I willed the concentration and pain management to speak. "Got it." I said through gritted teeth as Jace went around me.

Jace slowly pulled up my shirt and I let out a hiss of pain as the shirt hit my open wounds. "By the angel, who hit you and when did they hit you with a demon whip?" Jace asked in disbelief.

"You…..wouldn't….believe…believe….me if I…I told you." I stammered through as I closed my eyes tightly trying to get through it.

Jace took a sharp intake of breath. "It was him. The weirder than usual behavior, the more closed off demeanor, it's him. I don't know how he is reaching you or how he is still kicking. But that son of a bitch has not died. He's just….I don't even fucking know what state he is in." Jace rambled on, the alarm on his face and in his voice was very clear to me.

I simply nodded my head, it was too late now to hide it. Hell was about to rain down on me if I liked it or not. I was already in hell but I had to survive this circle first before I could move to the next one.


	19. Crime And Punishment

**This is a unique chapter since most of it is in Jack's POV. I have gone into more of the domestic life of the Herondale household. I hope you guys like it! Enjoy! LolaMay101**

(Chapter 19)

(Jack's POV)

I had watched Magnus take Ronnie out of the room with Clary on their heels leaving me with Jace. Jace and I were actually very close. He was like the father that I never had. My father left my mother when I was just a baby, and no one knows where he is. I always wished Jace was my real father. Luke didn't know how lucky he had it with two parents who loved him. I didn't even have one. I just had one who wanted to work me to death and to show me off to her friends.

I knew I was in trouble when Jace looked me in the eye with that disappointed look on his face. It was how he always looked when I or Luke pulled a stunt and I hated that look. I hated disappointing Jace, especially when he has always been so kind to me. I literally show up unannounced most of the time and he doesn't ask any questions, he gives me a hug and tells me my bedroom is still open from where I left it. He even calls it my bedroom. If only I was born a Herondale.

"Come with me," Jace sighed as he began walking towards his study where he went to get away from everyone. I had been there too many times to count.

I followed him silently as he moved at a quick pace down the hallway. Today Jace wasn't so pissed but usually he used the walk to talk himself down from totally demolishing me. Jace did have a right to demolish me though, I was a pain in the ass, but I guess I liked to test him. I liked to see if Jace was ever going to kick me out. No matter how hard I push, Jace always lets me stay.

Jace opened the door and I sat down in the chair across his desk. This was the just like going to the principal's office. I watched Jace sit down and glanced down the family photo of the Herondale's and the photos of his nephews. I guess some day he would add a photo of Ronnie since she was his niece if he could ever get a photo of her. I couldn't help but envy Ronnie because I've been waiting for years to have my photo up there right by the rest of the family, but I wasn't family. I was just the Consul's mistake of a son that Jace took pity on.

"Let's talk Jack. Why in the angel's name did you have to tackle Luke in the way you did? And why did you have to keep pummeling him until he was bleeding heavily?" Jace asked me as he crossed his legs, his golden eyes meeting my green ones.

This is what I liked about Jace. Even if you totally screwed up, he still gave you a chance to explain yourself or have a conversation. The thing is, you have to take the opportunity. If you didn't, he would dole out a harsh punishment.

"I was upset with Luke because it was obvious Ronnie was hurt. I mean, she was leaving a blood trail for Angel's sake!" I snapped angrily at that. "And he just kept going."

Ronnie was a complicated subject for me. She was attractive, there was no denying that, but the problem was she was hard to get to know. She didn't let anyone in and when I tried and got a little piece of her she would always shrink back up. I wasn't the most open guy myself, but I knew a little something about opening up.

Jace watched me for a second before replying. "I'm glad you stopped Luke from hurting Ronnie too badly, especially since she was already down." He said his tone giving nothing away. "But that does not excuse how badly you hurt Luke. You know that's not how we do things here. We have this conversation all the time." Jace said shaking his head.

"I guess I'm a slow learner?" I supplied cheekily trying to cover up for the fact I did know the rule. I just didn't think about it in the moment.

A hint of a smile ghosted on Jace's lips. "Yes, well, you're going to have speed your learning process up or next time it will be Alec dealing with your misbehavior."

I gulped, Alec was the one who enforced the harsh punishments. Jace could never bring himself to do it because of the abuse he suffered when he was younger. Alec though, was an entirely different matter. Alec didn't like administrating corporal punishment, but he would if needed. I have had many thrashings by Alec and they hurt like hell, and I couldn't use an iratze. That was a rule about the punishment, I had to heal like a mundane. Alec claimed it was humbling. Humbling my ass.

I was lucky though because most shadowhunting families punished everything with some sort of pain. Whether that be kneeling on rice or receiving a belting. This was nothing new to me, Jace and Alec were very fair with punishments. They didn't give one unless they really thought we deserved it and we always talked about why and how it was going to happen.

"Got it," I gulped with a nod of my head. This was a part of staying at the New York Institute. There were certain rules that had to be followed.

"Good, so let me get this right because we both know you have not been on your best behavior the last few days." Jace said giving me a pointed look and I looked down in shame. "You have done none of your school work which we have had many conversations about. You attacked Luke ruthlessly and almost knocked him out, but you did help Ronnie. Is this all correct?" Jace asked me as he folded his hands on his desk.

"Yes, that's correct. I don't know why you keep trying with the school work thing, Jace. I have never done any paper work you have given me." I said with a sheepish chuckle, he knew I was right too.

Jace sighed, his golden eyes watching me from place across from him in the wooden office chair. "I know, and we're going to start to break that habit. I have Ronnie to worry about now and we need to make everything seem as normal and structured as possible. For every day you don't do your school work, you'll get a tally mark. Once you get three tallies, you will receive an Alec punishment. For every day you don't do your homework you'll receive one of my punishments. Understood?" Jace asked, and the way he said it told me he was dead serious.

I didn't understand why he was so serious about this. He has never been that serious about school work or structure. Jace had always been the fun one, but something must have changed today. "I understand." I said with a nod of my head.

Jace smiled gently, he hated to dole out punishments. "Good, now today you warrented an Alec punishment. You know I absolutely hate you guys to beating each other up for nothing." Jace said with a sigh and I sucked in a breath. "But, you didn't fight me on the way here and you were trying to help Ronnie and it got out of hand, so you will be receiving one of mine."

I sighed in relief, I didn't feel like going through an Alec punishment and having my back side or knees be sore for a long period of time. "Okay, thank you." I said, I knew it would have been really easy for him to hand me over to Alec and go deal with Ronnie and whatever happened to her.

Jace got out two pieces of paper from his desk and a pen. He also got out a sticky note. He began to read out loud as he wrote. "I will not fight, cause trouble, or hurt my peers. I will do my school work properly and be on my best behavior." Jace slid the sticky note and pieces of paper to me as well as the pen. "I want you to write that fifty times. Once you're done let me know, and we'll talk about what is going to happen next."

I sighed and nodded my head. I hated writing lines and Jace knew it. It was his go to punishment for me. I began to write on the paper in neat, grammatically correct writing. If the lines weren't perfect, Jace would make me do it again. I once only had to write something 20 times but then I screwed up 3 times so I ended up writing the lines sixty times. That was a bad day for both of us.

I glanced at Jace as I worked, he was reading some book. Jace read a lot in his free time, I knew that. Jace was actually really smart, but everyone said he was arrogant. I thought it was kind of funny because I didn't see him as arrogant. I also really liked Jace, so that probably created some bias. I finished the lines and held them out for Jace to inspect.

Jace read carefully and quickly over each line before looking up at me. "Good job," Jace praised me as he put the lines into his drawer. "Now, since you acted in a childish manner with beating the snot of Luke, you're going to receive a childish punishment. You will stand in the corner with your nose planted in it. You will not move and you will stay there until I tell you to move. Do you understand me, Jack?" Jace asked me in a serious tone.

"Yes sir," I said, I knew fighting him on this would just tip him into letting Alec finish this up. I was lucky I wasn't getting treated to both of their punishment types.

I went to the corner silently and put my nose in it staring at the wall. I heard Jace sigh as he opened up his book and the room was silent. It was so uncomfortable how quiet everything was. I began to fidget with my shirt when Jace cleared his throat.

"Jack, don't make me start your time over." Jace called from his place in his chair.

I immediately stopped. I didn't want to be here longer than I had to, and I was already going to be here for a long time. I could feel it. I stood there for what felt like hours, but I knew Jace wouldn't really make me stand like this for hours. He didn't give cruel and unusual punishments.

"Alright Jack, you can come out now." Jace informed me and I turned around and went and sat down in the chair I was in earlier.

One rule about being in Jace's study is that you couldn't leave until he told you, you could. It was an annoying rule, but I got why he had it. He had to make sure that we knew that he controlled this place. It was actually really smart when you thought about it.

"Are you okay?" Jace asked me, he always asked me that at the end of every punishment.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm fine Jace. I'm sorry I hurt Luke and I will try to do my school work." I said looking at him as I fidgeted with my hands.

Jace smiled and reached over and ruffled my hair. "Good to hear. Next time you see Luke, I want you to apologize to him. You may go," Jace said and I immediately stood up and headed for the door. "Don't forget Jack, about what we talked about."

(Ronnie's POV)

I was in so much pain, Magnus had been trying to heal me for what felt like forever. All he could do was stop the bleeding and take a little of the pain away, but he couldn't get rid of it all. Finally, Magnus sighed and stepped away from my infirmary bed where Alec had been holding me down since I would try to lash out at him. It wasn't on purpose but because he was causing me pain and I was trying to defend myself.

"This is all I can do. I'm sorry Ronnie." Magnus said motioning for his husband to let me go.

Alec slowly let me free and turned to his husband. "Who even hit you with a demon whip? Was it Lillith?"

"It wasn't Lillith." A familiar voice called from the door way. I turned to see Jace leaning on the door frame. "Alec, it's him."

"Impossible," Alec said shaking his head and the two friends had a show down with their faces. It was like they had some sort of communication no one knew about.

"I don't know how he does it. But he can leave marks on her body." Jace said coming over and standing in front of me. "How long has he been able to do this?" Jace asked as he went around and looked at my back.

I bit my lip, he wouldn't be happy to know how long I had been holding this back. "A couple of weeks now?" I said, and I heard Jace take in a sharp breath.

"Why didn't you mention this earlier? Don't you think we should know about this?" Alec snapped at me, his blue eyes full of irritation and annoyance.

Jace looked at his parabatai and shook his head. "She doesn't trust us Alec, would you tell Ronnie if you were dreaming of Robert and if Robert was evil?" Jace asked him and Alec grew flustered. "Exactly, I can't really blame Ronnie for doing something I would have done."

I rolled my eyes as I reached towards my back trying to soothe the sting. "He's a pain in the ass." I said reffering to my father. "He's great with a whip by the way, if you guys haven't noticed."

Jace chuckled softly. "I see that. What we need to talk about now, is how we are going to cut the tether between you two and put down Sebastian once and for all." Jace said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"You can't kill him," I blurted out not even thinking. He couldn't kill him, not until I got to know information about my mother. It was the only reason I hadn't tried to myself.

"And why not?" another voice chimed in from behind me. I turned to see Clary coming in, a dark expression on her face. I guess she found out that her psycho of a brother was back somehow and has made a home in my head, tormenting me. "The only way we will ever be truly rid of Sebastian is if we get rid of him once and for all. We need to burn his body which we left down in the circle of hell with that demon. He cannot put his own ashes back together." Clary said with a determined shake of her head.

"He has information I need." I said bluntly, not caring if she cared or not.

"Yeah, well, it's not worth my son almost getting killed for is it? Luke is resting now," Clary snapped before turning to Jace. "I can't believe you let Luke get the shit beat out of him. What is wrong with you?!" She said thumping her husband in the head.

Jace tried to duck but missed he rubbed his forehead. "I didn't mean to! And I already punished Jack, he's in his room now."

Clary rolled her eyes. "Fantastic. I'm sure having him take a time out and having to write lines is going to fix this mess." She turned to me, her green eyes full of anger. "I can't do this right now." She turned and walked out.

"Well, that was fun." I said under my breath as I tried to soothe the marks that were on my back.


	20. Twins

(Chapter 20)

(Ronnie's POV)

I was finally allowed to go back into my room after Magnus gave me a bunch of herbs for the pain and a weary pat on the head. Jace didn't want me to be alone at all but surprisingly, Magnus thought it was a good idea. He thought Sebastian would be more apt to come out that way and they could deal with him if he did. To go back to my room, I had to swear to yell for Jace or someone else if Sebastian paid me a visit. I only agreed because Jace was really making me consider killing him.

I was sitting on my bed with my Dad's journal in front of me. Most of his writings didn't make sense but maybe it would give me something to go on to get rid of him. Sebastian was into some voodoo stuff and he recorded most of his discoveries down. Granted, most of those discoveries were incomplete thoughts but maybe I could put the pieces of the puzzle together. I sure hope so, those wounds he gifted me with were sure a pain in the ass.

I flipped to the next page in Sebastian's journal when there was a knock on my door. I sighed, it better not be Jace. I made it pretty clear that I was more than a little annoyed with him. Part of the reason for my annoyance is that he told me Jack saved me from passing out or even maybe dying from pain. Jack and I were getting along alright, he was nice enough and he kind of understood me. That did not mean, however, I had a desire to be in debt to him. The other part of my annoyance was that Jace thought I was surely going to die or give in to Sebastian. He didn't see any alternative since he couldn't exactly see Sebastian, but I did. I was going to knock Sebastian Morgenstern onto his ass.

"Come in," I called, a knife was next to me so if my intruder wasn't friendly they would be in for an unpleasant surprise.

The door opened and standing in the doorway was Jack. He stepped into the room and closed the door. He was dressed in black gear, and his hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in ages. I sighed, putting my knife down. I wasn't really in the mood to see him, but I did owe him since he saved me from either dying or being gravely injured.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Jack asked coming closer into the room and sitting on my bed.

"I'm fine," I said snapping my book shut and putting it over on my nightstand. "Magnus gave me something for the pain."

Jack's green eyes watched me carefully. "Good," Jack said with a sigh and ran a hand through his already messy hair. "You really had me worried there, it would be boring around here if you were gone."

"Yeah, well, Sebastian Morgenstern hasn't put me down yet." I said only half joking. Sebastian could kill me, but I was hoping to beat him before then.

Jack shook his head as he crossed his legs, so he was sitting directly across from me. "What's he like? Sebastian?" Jack asked curiously with his eyes begging for information.

I sighed, I couldn't exactly get mad at him for asking. What I heard was Sebastian was basically horror stories parents told their children at night. "He is like a snake. He's cruel, manipulative, always planning his next move, and very dangerous." I explained with a shake of my head. "And everyone thinks I'm just like them and I'm not sure they're wrong."

I tried to tell myself I was nothing like Sebastian, but the truth was we had a lot in common. I looked almost exactly like him, I was always one step ahead, and I was extremely dangerous. My genetic makeup caused me to be like a bomb that could go off at any moment.

Jack looked at me thoughtfully and then shook his head. "You're nothing like him," Jack said with a definite look in his eye. "Do you know how I know?"

I frowned and shook my head, what was Jack talking about? He hardly knew me, well, he knew me better than other people here. Jack was the only one who I kind of related to. Of course, Jack was an asshole, but so was I. It was our circumstances that made us assholes and I guess that brought us closer together.

"Because you're kind. You try to come across that you're not, but you are. You fight for the right reasons, and I know Sebastian didn't whip you because you were agreeing with him." Jack said with a slight laugh and I couldn't help but chuckle along with him. "Sebastian was also weak, he gave into the demon side of him. I don't see you doing that. There's something special about you, a certain strength." Jack said moving a strand of my hair out of my face before pulling back.

I sat stunned, I didn't expect him to go that deep into detail. I didn't know what to say to him, that was…a lot of information. I never had anyone say anything like that about me before. Mom always told me things I needed to do better. She never told me I was strong, and I didn't know Jack could be thoughtful like that. It was weird.

"Yes, well," I said standing up from the bed and standing awkwardly beside it. "Is there any reason you're here?"

Jack's mouth pulled up into a small smirk and nodded his head. "Jace wanted me to get you. We have two new house guests. A pair of twins that got kicked out of the Shadowhunter Academy. Magnus saved them from being exiled to some little island, so we're apparently going over ground rules." Jack said with a fond look as if he knew these twins.

"Got it," I said with a shake of my head as I exited my room. I knew Jack would follow behind me.

I walked to the library where I'm sure this meeting was taking place. That's usually where we did our sit-down lessons and where Jack took his daily nap. I turned the corner and walked through the double doors. Inside the library where was laughter bubbling up around me and it was coming from Jace and two sets of red headed boys. They looked exactly alike. They were tall, lanky, scrappy, and both had blue eyes. It didn't help that they were wearing almost identical gear. Alec, the only other adult in the room, looked down at them disapprovingly, which didn't surprise me. Alec had a stick up his ass about everything.

Sitting at one of the tables were Jonathan, Ramon, the twins, Jace, and Alec. I guess this was going to be just a older kids only meeting. I didn't even know why I was invited because I was ticking time bomb.

I went and sat down at the table across from Jack and Jace nodded to me. "Ronnie, this is David and Daniel Ashdown. They will be staying with us for an undetermined amount of time." Jace introduced and the twins grinned at each other then at me.

"Fun," I grumbled under my breath and the twins' grins widened.

Jace looked at me and then back to the twins before beginning to go into his long talk about rules. I guess he kind of had to, I mean, David and Daniel got kicked out of the Shadowhunter Academy. Jack was either kicked out or on a long suspension no one was really sure. I was the daughter of the most hated man ever. The only ones who were somewhat normal were Luke and Ramon.

"Alright, I'm done talking." Jace said before looking over at Jack who had passed out about halfway through with a roll of his eyes. "Ronnie, wake him up."

I reached over and shook Jack's shoulders. "Jace has finally shut his mouth." I informed him as he jumped awake.

"Jack, my office, you know the drill." Jace sighed getting up and Jack ran a hand through his hair. "You all get to know each other." He said looking at me and the twins. Ramon and Luke already knew them apparently, there weren't many Shadowhunter families out there.

I turned to David and Daniel who were staring at me. "What did you do to get kicked out of the Shadowhunter Academy?" I asked them with a curious look.

That's when Ramon snorted drawing my attention over to him. "What have they not done?" He said snarkely.

One of the twins laughed. "He's not wrong, lighting fireworks in the hallway was the last straw according to the headmaster." The red headed boy laughed with a gleeful expression. "Do you remember his face Danny?" Ah, so this must be David.

Danny grinned looking over at his brother. "How could I forget, Davy? He hadn't looked that mad since last Christmas when we put crickets in his drawers and he couldn't figure out where they were." Danny laughed with a shake of his head.

"You're lucky to be alive. If I pulled anything like that, Uncle Alec would have my hide." Luke laughed and looked over to where Alec was across the library brooding over a book.

The twins were….strange. They seemed to relish getting into trouble which was weird to me. My life had always been about order and structure, I couldn't imagine putting crickets in Mom's office or Mr. Dearborn's. They would have punished me severely.

"Yeah, but Ronnie Morgenstern is the luckiest." David said with a smirk on his face. "How did you ever get the Consul to pardon you?"

Before I could answer Daniel began to speak. "Who do you think made that happen?" He scoffed at his twin.

"Jace," both of them said at the same time and shrugged like it was no big deal.

I looked back over at Jack as Luke and Ramon got enthralled in a conversation with the twins. Jack could sense the question in my eyes. "They have been like that ever since they were little Danny and Dave have always been connected at the hip, partners in crime. We hung out in school a lot. You could imagine the Consul's displeasure." Jack said with a smirk and a mischievous glint in his eye.

I wasn't surprised Jack knew these guys, they seemed too similar to him. I also wasn't surprise Jace took them in. Jace really did like to take in the troubled ones. I didn't understand why he did it, but I guess I didn't have to. Maybe Magnus, who really fought for them Jace just gave an extra push, had a connection to them. I don't know, but the twins seemed interesting.


	21. The Dark War

(Chapter 21)

(Ronnie's POV)

Today was the first morning of the twins at the Institute and of Jace's strict new, rules. I understood why he had them in place since he was instructing a bunch of semi-dangerous misfits with the exception of his children, Ramon, and James. I was kind of in my own category of dangerous though, because I had everyone's worst fear inside of me. Last night, I slept on Magnus's and Alec's floor (much to Alec's displeasure) because they wanted to make sure Sebastian didn't try to overtake me in my sleep. I would be sleeping on Jace's floor tonight and I think I would rather stab my eye out with a fork.

After Magnus checked over to me, I was allowed to go to my room and get ready for another day of Jace running his mouth. I was dressed in black gear with my hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. I looked myself in the mirror, and I didn't recognize myself anymore. My face had sunken in and my eyes had bags under them, and it was all because of Sebastian Morgenstern and the Herondales.

I turned away from the mirror and made my way down the hall towards the library where Jace held his lessons for the twins, Jack, Ramon, and I. James and Tessa had their own lessons which were taught by Isabelle and sometimes Alec. I didn't mind being taught separately from James and Tessa, we were getting the same education just at a different pace. It really did not matter to me.

I walked into the library and I saw a white board had been put up. There were also individual desks all set up next to each other in the center of the library. Jace was actually transforming this place into an actual classroom. I scowled at the thought as I walked to one of the desks. I was the first one here, Jace hadn't even come in yet.

"You're the only punctual one, I'm afraid." Jace called from a corner of the library. It seemed he had been in here after all. "I'm not surprised."

I simply rolled my eyes as I turned in my wooden seat to look at him. "I know how to keep time." I replied neutrally, my eyes taking in his form.

"That you do," Jace chuckled, his golden eyes danced with amusement. He came to the front of the room where the whiteboard was.

The library door slammed open and the twins came in like a tornado. Both of them seemed to have stuffed their pockets with all sorts of things because the pockets were bulging. I watched as they came in and sat on either side of me with a grin.

"Morning Ronnie!" They said at the same time, a scheming look in their eyes.

"Morning," I replied skeptically watching as they shared grins with one another before turning and looking at Jace.

Coming in not so far behind the twins, were Luke, Ramon, and Jack. Luke looked like he had woken up on the wrong side of bed, and Ramon mirrored his look. Ramon always looked like that though, so I wasn't surprised. Jack simply had his hands in his pocket as he took a seat next to one of the twins. I think he sat next to Daniel, but they were identical, I wasn't for certain though. Luke sat next to another one of the twins and Ramon next to Luke.

Jace turned around and his eyes were drawn immediately to the twins whose pockets were busting at the seams. "You both know if something explodes in the class I will hang you by your ears?" Jace asked the two of them with a half serious expression on his face.

Daniel and David just grinned over at Jace. "We would never do such thing." Daniel announced with a smug look on his face.

Jace rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Right," he said before turning to the rest of us. "Did everyone sleep well?"

"I slept on the floor so-" I started but I was then cut off by Jace.

"Alright, pull out a piece of paper. We're going over the Dark War." Jace said and there were a collective round of groans except for Jack. Jack seemed to have some concern over the topic.

"Jace," Jack said, interrupting the process of Jace beginning to write something on the board. "Do you think now is a good time to talk about this? I mean, with everything going on?" He asked looking pointedly at me.

I frowned, what was he going on about? I didn't know what the Dark War was. Everyone else seemed to, but they had grown up around here. "What is he talking about?" I asked Jace with a frown in Jack's direction.

Jace ran a hand through his hair and put down the marker he was using to write things on the board with. "The Dark War was the war that was fought against Sebastian Morgenstern. That is what he is referring to." Jace said addressing me first before turning to Jack. "This is a vital part of our history and I think it's relevant more than ever. If I didn't think everyone in this room was able to handle it, then I wouldn't be giving this lesson. There is a reason James and Tessa are taught separately then you guys."

I pursed my lips at the mention of my father's name. I was going to learn in detail about the things he has done and how they have affected the people around him. I have learned a little about it from Jace and a good portion from Sebastian's journals, but he never outright calls it The Dark War.

"Are there anymore questions?" Jace asked looking around and when the room was silent he cleared his throat. "Right, now this is a very serious conversation." He gave a pointed look at the twins and at Luke. "So, I expect you to all treat it as such, is that clear?" Jace said and we all nodded our heads. Even the twins were taking this seriously.

"Who can tell me something about The Dark War?" Jace asked us, his eyes surveying the room. I looked over and saw that Jack's hand was the only one raised. This came as a shock to me, because by now in most lessons he would be passed out. Jace mirrored my look of surprise. "Go ahead Jack."

"It was one of the worst wars the Shadowhunters have ever seen. The two sides included the Shadowhunters and the Endarkened. A lot of people died." Jack said, his green eyes watched the board as Jace wrote Endarkened and Shadowhunters on the board in black marker.

"Good Jack," Jace praised him before turning back around to the rest of us. "Who can tell us what an Endarkened is?"

This time, Luke's hand went up. Jace nodded to his son giving him approval to speak his mind. "Endarkened warriors are people who drank from Sebastian's form of the mortal cup and turned their angel blood against them. It gave Sebastian the ability to control them and use them to kill their loved ones and anyone who got in his way. Who knows? Maybe his daughter has the ability." Luke said with a smirk on his face. He knew that last part stung.

"Well if she does," I said speaking up. "You'll be the first one she uses it on." I said cheekily, and Luke rose to his feet an angry look on his face.

"Stop it!" Jace snapped looking at the both of us. "Luke, sit down you know that was far from okay. This is an intelligent discussion, not a rage filled or provoking one." Jace reprimanded his son before turning to me. "Ronnie, you know better than to say those type of things. What if someone other than us had heard that? Do you know that could have gotten you killed on the spot, no matter what you meant by it." Jace snapped at me.

This was so unfair, Jace was angrier at me than Luke who actually made the snide comment. Everything was always my fault because I was born. Did I choose to be born with demon blood? Did I decide to be raised by a mother who is a demon and not really my mother? Did I choose to be a monster? No, none of these things were my choice. Nothing is ever my choice.

"Now," Jace said clearing his throat and bringing back the conversation to the Dark War much to my annoyance. "An Endarkened Warrior is someone who drank from Sebastian's cup. They were individuals who were completely loyal to him." Jace sighed as if this wasn't working before turning to us.

"Sebastian Morgenstern was a very…unstable person. He wanted to burn down the world just for the hell of it and he wanted demons to rule. For whatever reason, even hell cannot kill Sebastian. He is very much alive, just not alive enough to resurface out of hell." Jace said bluntly, and he looked directly at me. It was almost as if he was telling me something directly. "That's why we are talking about the Dark War. Jack was not wrong when he said this is not the best time to have this conversation."

I looked over at Jack who was sitting stoically while Daniel snatched his pen to write something down. For once, Daniel and David looked serious. Luke's and Ramon's faces were both ashened which they had a right to be so. From what Jace has told me while I have been here, the war directly revolved him, Clary and the Lightwoods.

"But," Jace continued on, rubbing a hand across his face. "We need to prepare. If Sebastian ever managed to bring himself out of hell, ruin would ensue. The Consul does not believe it is possible even though I have given her vague details of what has happened." He said turning his attention on me.

"I thought I was here, so you could keep me alive," I grumbled looking down. If the Consul wanted to kill me so bad, wouldn't this be the perfect excuse? She could claim Sebastian was possessing me or something. People would believe it.

Jace sighed again, he seemed to not know how to combat that expression. No one did, the room was silent because we were all trying to understand the situation. Sebastian needed me to bring him back, but what if he found another way? That would explain why he hasn't tried to make another appearance in broad daylight. I think Jace was thinking the same thing and that's why we were having this conversation.

The nightmare of seeing my father in person made the marks on my back sting more than usual. Magnus's herbs and spells helped with the pain, but it would never truly go away. The pain was a comfort though, it meant I was still alive. If my father came back I'm not sure I would be alive, or I would suffer a worse fate. I wasn't really into suffering Sebastian's wrath again.

"If Sebastian comes back," David said from beside me, his green eyes full of thought. "How are you going to make sure he….you know…doesn't come back again?" He posed the question to Jace.

Jace simply shook his head. "I wish I had a good answer but, I need the Consul to be open to the possibility that Sebastian could. The Clave has resources, things they have saved up for occasions as drastic as this, there are measures in place, but I don't know if we would be able to have access to them."

"Well this is just fantastic," Ramon grumbled, a scowl lighting up his face. "Sebastian is going to be coming back and we're going to be the first one he targets with his stupid kid here," Ramon said glaring directly at me.

Jace quickly stepped in before I had time to reply. He put his hand up asking for me to be patient. "Well Ramon, we would be the first he goes after anyways. Our family is the reason he is where he is. He is going to be more than a little pissed." Jace informed him, that earned a chuckle from the twins. "And our family is special to him."

Luke frowned as he now offered his input. "Why is our family special? Is it because of Mom?" Luke asked with a shake of his head.

"Yes Luke," Jace said with a troubled look in his eyes. "Sebastian will want Mom."

I couldn't help but feel as if the world was ending. It sounds very dramatic, but Sebastian being back is a game changer. I needed him to tell me about my own mother, not the Mom who raised me. I also need to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. I may not like Jace or his family, but I did not wish them any harm. They were good people, no matter how annoying they acted. The twins also didn't deserve his wrath even if they were punks. And Jack, Jack was just like me. He had a parent that was disappointed in him. Sebastian would use that and twist him to his will.

Class ended an hour earlier than usual. I think it was because of how dark the conversation was. I started to stand up when Jack came over to me. "Meet me in the garden in an hour." He said, and without waiting for an answer he walked away.

What the hell was that about?


	22. Unlucky

**This is not a very detailed encounter because there are some details I need to fill out before I reveal everything on both parts. Enjoy, LolaMay101**

(Chapter 22)

(Ronnie's POV)

I walked into the garden with no expectations, because Jack was a wild card. Sometimes he wanted to joke and other times he was serious and stoic. I wasn't sure which Jack to expect. Either way, I was indebted to him.

I saw Jack sitting on a bench looking around at the flowers. His eyes were drawn to me as I awkwardly sat next down next to him. I didn't say anything for a while. I just looked at the different color petals of the flowers, and the trees that seemed to be watching over the Institute. It was odd, back home I would have never cared about the beauty of the trees. I was stuck in this prison though, so I guess I had to enjoy the beauty of it.

Finally I gave in to the silence, it just felt so awkward sitting next to Jack without saying anything. "I heard without you I might not be alive right now," I said, mentally wincing at the fact. "Thank you."

Jack looked very surprised I admitted it. "You're welcome, it would be a shame for someone who pisses the Consul off as much as you do to go." He said giving me a small smile.

I rolled my eyes good naturedly. I didn't understand the relationship between Jack and his mother because she didn't seem like a bad person. I mean, she hated me but for someone normal she would just be a minimum pain in the ass. She wasn't like my father who was just pure evil.

"Why do you hate her so much?" I asked him, my black eyes looking into his green ones. "I mean, don't get me wrong, she's a pain in the ass and slapped me in front of everyone but she means well. At least, I hope so." Parents were a really awkward subject for both of us. I just didn't know how to ask the question without totally seeming like a dick.

Jack sighed running a hand over his face. His eyes looked at the sunflowers in front of the bench with a thoughtful expression. "Consul Penhallow, isn't exactly mother of the year. Nothing I do is good enough so I just stopped trying." Jack said shortly with a shrug.

I sighed but decided to leave it alone. Now was not the time to press the issue, especially since my own family situation was more or less a mess. I looked away from Jack to see Jace walking towards me. I sighed again, looks like it was a time for another session with him staring at me and Magnus trying to get in my head.

"I got to go," I said turning to Jack before standing up. "I'll see you later." I got up and jogged over to Jace.

I began to walk inside the Institute with Jace behind me. I could feel the tension in the air as if Jace had something to say. After a little while of walking Jace finally spoke up. "You and Jack seem pretty close."

I rolled my eyes, this was another one of his lame attempts to connect with me. "Well, there's not many options for intelligent conversation here so I'm making do with what I've got." I quipped back as I continued walking.

Jace sped up so he was now walking next to me with his hands in his pockets. There was hint of a smirk on his face as he processed my comment. "You know the world won't end if you admit you like something about this place. You may act like you're miserable but there are moments I know that you secretly enjoy." Jace said with a shrug.

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Jace was right though, there were moments I enjoyed. I would never tell him that though because that would make him even more unbareable. I ducked into Magnus's office without another word where he was sitting at his sparkly desk.

"Ronnie and Jace, sit, sit. I think I have cracked this little….problem." Magnus said, his cat eyes lighting up with a wave of his hand.

I mentally groaned, I really did not want to have this 'little problem' cracked. I was good with pretending everything was fine and Sebastian Morgenstern was just my dead father. "Fantastic," I said with a sarcastic smile. "Just what I wanted to hear. An easier way to get to Sebastian's little psycho shell of an apartment."

Jace sighed as he took a seat next to me. "Ronnie, you know we are doing this so you don't have to suffer through that anymore." Jace said with a shake of his head.

I simply closed my eyes. "Let's just get this over with." I grumbled, I really hoped this did not work. I was not in the mood to spend time with Jace and Sebastian at the same time. One at a time was enough.

Magnus fluttered around us spraying certain scents and dumping a little oil on both of our hands. I didn't really understand why he was doing any of this bullshit, but I knew better than to argue. Everything would take twice as long if I expressed my distaste for the situation.

All of a sudden, I felt a rush of air and a gasp fell out of my mouth causing my eyes to come open. Oh my God. Magnus had done it. I looked down at myself, I was dressed in red gear for once and I had my original sword. I didn't have the one that was Sebastian's before me. I looked over the side of me and saw Jace standing next to me looking the same way I was feeling. Neither of us thought this was going to actually work.

"Magnus is a genius." Jace said a smile coming onto his lips as he looked over at me.

"He's something," I grumbled looking around the living room. Most of the time when I came here on my own Sebastian would make his own appearance near me. I always appeared in the room or near the room he was in.

I wasn't too disappointed because I saw Sebastian come into the room. He was dressed in red gear with his blonde hair neatly brushed. His dark eyes found mine and he grinned, but his smile grew even bigger when he saw Jace. It was as if someone gave him the greatest gift he could ever receive.

Jace, on the other hand, looked very grim. It was as if he was hoping that Sebastian wasn't actually back. I could see the pain in his face and the horror of the reality that had now appeared. I had news for Jace though, life sucks and his dick brother-in-law was like a cockroach. If I placed my bets on who could survive a nuclear war, it would be on Sebastian. I had a feeling Sebastian wasn't going anywhere for a while.

"Brother, it has been a long time since we have seen each other," Sebastian practically purred as he came over to the both of us in the middle of the living room. "I see you have been taking care of Roland since the Clave took her from Lillith." He said shaking his head as he paced around Jace. I could see the tension in Jace's shoulders as if he was about to pop at any moment. "You have been filling her head with all sorts of nonsense, now haven't you brother?" He tsked in a patronizing tone.

Jace sucked in a breath sparing a quick glance over to me before turning his full attention on Sebastian. "Can't help the fact that I'm not in hell and able to take care of my niece, properly can I?" Jace quipped back carefully.

Rage and frustration flashed over Sebastian's face but quickly faded into something more calculated. "True, but that is going to change very soon. Just you wait brother." Sebastian said as he reached for something. "This is just the beginning."

I took a chance and quickly blocked Sebastian's blade with my old sword. There was a deep, set scowl on my face as my sword came four inches in front of Jace's side. I was not going to have Jace die in my brain, who knows what would happen if he decided to die and I couldn't get him out. It did not sound like fun to have Jace speaking in my mind or visiting him in wherever this place was.

Sebastian's face pulled up into a grin. "Well done Rolland, your mother has trained you well." He sneered at me as he retracted his blade and stepped around Jace.

"She's not my mother as you and Jace have said." I said cooly and I couldn't miss the little glare that Sebastian shot at Jace. "And next time, I won't go for the block, I'll go for the kill."

Jace, by now, had recovered and was by my side with a seraph blade in his hand. He had a look of rage on his face and he was gripping the seraph blade in his hand so hard his knuckles were turning white. I didn't really know why he was so pissed. I would have thought he would be more afraid. I mean, Sebastian almost really messed up his life in all sorts of painful ways.

"Now, we know how to get here we'll find a way to block you. You will never touch her." Jace spat, and I was surprised at how enraged he was. I wasn't even Jace's kid, but yet he was acting like I was. "You will never come near her. She may have your DNA but she will not be you. You will never turn her over." Jace spat at him, I was surprised at how deep he was going. "Unlike you, she wasn't born damned. There is more of her mother in her, lucky for us."

Sebastian's face snapped into something that looked absolutely ready to take Jace down. Unlucky for Sebastian, we were snapped out of the weird limbo world and brought back to the present.

"Well," I said with a slight pant, looking over at Magnus who had sweat covering his brow. "That was interesting."


	23. Beautiful

**FF is acting weird with my files so I'm trying this for a third time. I hope you guys like it! Exciting things are happening and you guys should be pleased!** **Enjoy! LolaMay101**

(Chapter 23)

(Ronnie's POV)

"Faster, come on Ronnie." Jace snapped at me as we stood face to face in the training room.

Jace and I had been training for hours. Ever since the moment he found out Sebastian was going to find a way out of the hell he was trapped in, Jace had been sharpening my skills. He had a serious expression drawn on his face, one as if he was a general of war. I think we were training more for Jace then for me. I think Jace was afraid of what was going to happen next because he had barely defeated Sebastian the first time. At least, that was the story I heard.

I was getting tired of training. We had been training nonstop and it was getting very late. It was just me and Jace in the training room. He had literally shut and locked the doors to keep everyone else out. Jace didn't explain he just put me to work. I was tired and angry at the situation, yet we weren't breaking.

"I need a break." I said through gritted teeth as I wiped the sweat from my brow. "We've been at this for hours. I haven't gotten any faster and you haven't gotten any slower." I said trying to slow down my breathing.

I always used my ability to read a situation and to predict to win a battle. Jace said that's exactly how my father fights. If I wanted to beat him then I needed to fight with speed because I didn't know him. I didn't know what strategies he would use. Jace said striking first would be my advantage but I needed to be quick about it. I had to strike in quick periods because if I waited, Sebastian would have figured me out by then.

Jace shook his head. "Do you think Sebastian would give you a break?" He said harshly as he adjusted his stance.

I could tell he was tired as well. We had been going back and forth like this for what has felt like forever. We have stopped for one water break, no food. Jace seemed to be shaking in his boots, and it was odd. Mr. Confidence was Mr. Afraid now, and it was all because of me and my father. I didn't want him back as much as Jace didn't want him back, but all of this training? What's the use? If he was going to kill us, then he was going to kill us. I don't think any amount of training would prepare us anymore than we are already prepared.

"No," I said with a shake of my head. I put my hands to the side of me. "He would just beat me. So, go ahead, _Uncle_ Jace." I spat at him, my dark eyes narrowing at him. "If you want to prepare me, then you should kick the crap out of me."

Jace looked surprised at that, he didn't think I had the guts to say that. Well there was more where that came from. I could take a beating, Mom or Lillith had made sure of that. I didn't talk about my training much, because I was happier with the results than with the process.

"I'm not going to beat you," Jace said carefully as he moved closer to me in his fighting stance. "Let's go another round, and then we'll call it a night, alright?" Jace said trying to compromise with me.

I really did not want to compromise. I was tired of his bullshit and worrying about Sebastian. All in one day we talked about the Dark War, he entered my mind/weird limbo world, and we have been trying to beat the shit out of each other for hours. I needed some time to process what was going on.

"No," I said simply with a shrug, and I walked out of the room. Jace didn't stop me. He didn't even say anything, he just stared after me.

I knew better than to go to my room, Jace would probably try to approach me again later and that's the very first place he would look. I needed to go somewhere that would buy me a little time. I knew just the place too.

I walked down the hall with my head held high. I came across a wooden door and rapped on it three times and stood waiting. I didn't know how this was going to go but this was the only place I would feel comfortable going that wasn't my usual place. I just needed space from Jace and Sebastian drama for now.

The door opened, and a shirtless Jack stood in the door way. His black hair was tousled and his green eyes looked confused when they settled on me. Jack didn't look like he had been asleep, he looked like he had been up to something. "Ronnie?" Jack questioned. "What's up?"

"Can I come in?" I asked him, my black eyes looking into his room to make sure Jace wasn't hiding under his bed and was going to yell 'got you' at me. "I just need some…..time away from Jace."

Jack shrugged his shoulders a smirk of amusement coming onto his face, "Come on in, Beautiful." Jack drawled out with a grin as he stepped out of the way to let me in.

"Don't call me that," I said with a roll of my eyes as I stepped into his room.

Jack's room was very neat. He had a made bed over by a window and a desk against the wall right by the bathroom door. On the desk there were many stacks of papers and pens were cast out on each pile. There was a dresser by the door and a hamper by the dresser that had clothes in it. Jack seemed to have the room thing all figured out, and it was disturbing. I didn't picture this for how Jack's room would look. I knew his mother was a Nazi and probably forced these habits on him, I didn't expect him to keep them.

Jack chuckled from behind me as he shut the door. He went over to his desk chair and sat down in it turning it around to look at me. I made myself at home on the bed, he didn't seem to care. "Jace has had you shut up in the training room for hours. I was afraid one of you weren't going to come out alive." Jack said, he was in quite the mood tonight.

"Yes, well, Jace is terrified." I said reasonably with a shrug. Jack watched me as if trying to gauge my body language. "Sebastian Morgenstern is coming back, and the Clave doesn't believe him." I continued with a shake of my head.

Jack ran a hand through his hair. "I can't exactly blame, Sebastian is one messed up son of a bitch." He said as he grabbed a pen and began playing with it. "How are you holding up?"

"Honestly?" I said, Jack was the only one here I was truly honest with and it was only because he asked about me. He wanted to know my thoughts. He didn't want to just get in my head or see me as a means to an end. "I could use a distraction. Everything feels like it's my fault…I would like to not feel like that just for a little while."

Jack sat thoughtfully before coming over to me and sitting down next to me. "I know a way to make that happen." Jack said turning to me, the heat of his skin felt nice. I felt cold all the time here, kind of like I was dead.

I frowned, I didn't know what he meant at the time, but I would soon find out. "How? How can you distract me from this?" I asked him with a hopeless expression.

Jack simply leaned in with a smile. "Like this," he said calmly as his breath tickled my nose.

Before I could really comprehend what was happening, Jack's lips were on my lips. I could feel his warmth, it was a nice feeling almost like being wrapped in a blanket. He smelt of the woods, as if he spent his days rolling around on the grass outside and he taste like cinnamon. At first, I wanted to resist, but it felt…good. I felt comfortable. I didn't understand why, but it was as if someone was giving me an outlet for my emotional pain.

I found myself wrapping my arms around him, not really knowing why as he laid me down on the bed. He came up for air briefly looking down at me. My lips felt swollen and tingly, but it was a good feeling. I had never kissed anyone before. I liked kissing Jack though, it felt good. I was someone who hated feelings and surprises, yet this one I accepted gladly. What was wrong with me? I didn't even feel guilty about kissing someone I hardly knew.

I leaned up and kissed him again, my mouth moved in time with his. I didn't really know what I was doing so I let Jack lead. He ran his hands down my sides drawing circles around my hips. I drew my own circles around his stomach tracing the runes on his chest. Jack began to kiss my neck and a sigh came out of my throat. It was one of relief and wanting, I needed Jack. I needed him to take this pain away from me.

For once in several days, I didn't feel the pain of the whip. All I felt was Jack on my body, all I smelt was cinnamon and fresh cut grass and it was relaxing. I wanted more and more of Jack and I didn't even understand why. I mean, Jack and I understood each other. We were a lot alike in a lot of ways. Our parents are terrible, we are not wanted anywhere else, and we are more than what we seem. With Jack, I felt a connection. It was one I couldn't seem to make with anyone else here.

After a while of Jack kissing me and us exploring each other, he laid down next to me. "Are you sure I can't call you, beautiful?" Jack asked me with a smirk as he held my body close to his.

"I am sure, this was….was a….I don't know what this was." I said a little flustered. It felt so right in the moment but now that it was over….it was weird. I kissed someone I hardly knew and I didn't think about the consequences. I'm never this reckless.

Jack laughed at my lack of words. "This was….an understanding." Jack said pressing a kiss to my lips. "One I doubted you would participate in, but life is full of surprises."

I scowled in his direction at that, he was a little cheeky thing. "Well, next time I'll bite your lip. We'll see how surprised you are then." I shot back with a smirk on my face.

Jack shook his head as he let out a small yawn with a roll of his eyes. "Whatever you say, darling. Whatever you say."


	24. We Can't Do This Again

(Chapter 24)

(Ronnie's POV)

I woke up the next morning in Jack's room, and I was confused. What happened again? That's when everything came rushing back. Me hiding from Jace, Jack kissing me, Jack holding me, Jack kissing me. I can't believe I let him do that and I kissed him back. I mean, it felt nice but now was not the time for me to be going around and kissing boys with mommy problems. I had a bigger fish to fry and their name was Sebastian Morgenstern.

It was a nice distraction for a moment, it made me feel almost…normal. Aren't teenage girls supposed to be kissed by boys and not be having to prepare for their demon father to climb his way out of hell? I would kiss Jack every day if I didn't have to deal with this nightmare. I was just sixteen, I wasn't ready to fight a war against my own family. It seems like I didn't really have a choice though, it was either fight for the Clave and Herondales and live by a slim chance. Or fight for Sebastian and surely die. I wasn't ready to die yet so the Clave/Herondale team was the team I was playing on, no matter how much of a pain in the ass Jace was.

I sat up running a hand through my hair as I heard the bathroom door swing open. I looked over to see Jack come out of the bathroom, he was pulling on a black gear shirt over his head. His black hair was a tousled mess, it seemed that boy didn't know what a brush was. For some reason, that made him more attractive. It made me want to kiss him again, and that was a bad thing. I didn't have the time or the luxury to be distracted by a guy. Maybe in another life, but I was in this one. At least, that's what I have been trying to tell myself.

Jack's eyes landed on me, and they were full of uncertainties. This was a little bit of a dangerous game we were playing. We hardly knew each other, yes, but then again, we knew each other very well. I had Daddy issues and he had Mommy issues. It was almost as if we had an understanding of each other that no one else had. I understood Jack, he was messy. His life was a disaster but in a different way than mine. He had the perfect parent that wanted a perfect child. I had a screwed up parent that was trying to corrupt his child into being just like him. Jack had had his mother his whole life, I have had my father for almost a week or two.

I couldn't help but wonder if things would have been different for me if Sebastian was the one who raised me instead of my mother. Would I want to hurt people? Would I be a monster? I don't know. I don't want to think about it. I'm not a monster, I've always wanted to do the right thing. Mom or Lillith raised me to think I was going to save the world. My heart was in the right place, right? I keep trying to justify all of this in my head but it's just a muddy mess. Everything doesn't make sense, I once knew my role but now I don't. I just know that I'm fighting for the right to choose who I want to be. With Jack, that fight is already won.

"Morning," Jack said as he came over and sat across from me at the foot of the bed. "Did you sleep alright?" He asked me anxiously, I could see the questions in his eyes. He was worried I entered Sebastian's weird limbo world in my sleep.

I rolled my eyes at how he was trying to slide it under my nose. I would have been fine if he bluntly asked me. "No. I did not see Sebastian," I said shaking my head and Jack visibly relaxed. Sebastian really did unnerve him. "So, I slept fine for once."

"That's good," Jack spoke with a shrug of his shoulders before running a hand through his hair. "Maybe it was because you were so close to someone, Sebastian couldn't touch you or something."

I laughed softly, he was so ready to believe that any of this was in my control. Everyone wanted me to have some magic answer to close off Sebastian, but I didn't have one. I didn't know what to tell him, and especially after he had been so nice to me. He let me stay in his room and let me sleep in his bed without asking anything in return. I don't think I have the right to crush his spirit in this moment.

The door suddenly swung open and Jack and I jumped in surprise. Standing in the door way was an angry Luke wearing a pink shirt. "I hate the twins, we should have left them on that island." Luke raved slamming the door behind him as he came into the room.

Jack and I glanced at each other, Luke hadn't seemed to figure out that something was not right in here. I rolled my eyes as I watched Luke pace around the room call the twins every name under the sun before finally pausing. He came over and stopped in front of the bed with an expression of confusion and disdain on his face.

"What are you doing in here?" Luke asked me, his green-golden eyes watching my every move. He looked so much like his father it was disturbing.

What story could I tell Luke that would be semi-believable? I was not going to tell him that I had made out with his friend and slept in his bedroom. Luke thought I lived under a rock and didn't talk to anyone. He wasn't entirely wrong, but I did talk to Jack pretty frequently which explains the kissing. I also think I kissed Jack for a little rebellion against Jace and the Herondales, and I bet Jack kissed me for a little rebellion against his Mom. I didn't mind that, it seemed reasonable at the time.

I shrugged my shoulders at Luke as I cleared my hair from my eyes. "Jack was helping me study for that weapons test next week," I said looking over at Jack who got a smug smirk on his face which I chose to ignore. "And I fell asleep in here." I stated, my dark eyes dared him to challenge me. I was so ready to kick Luke's ass again.

Luke shrugged his shoulders seeming to accept this answer. He brushed aside his curly, strawberry blonde hair, out of his eyes with a snort. "Well I have to go change shirts and class starts in a half hour. Dad is at a meeting with the Clave, so Alec is teaching everything today."

Alec didn't have patience for nonsense, especially when it came from people he wasn't very fond of which meant I had to be extra careful not to piss him off. Alec was nice enough, I guess. I saw how he acted with Tessa, James, Luke, and Ramon and it was as a loving uncle. He didn't love me or even remotely like me and that was okay, we still were stuck with each other though. He had to play nice and so did I, but that was tough when he was a prick in our lessons.

Jack wasn't taking the news as well as I was. He couldn't take his daily nap during the lesson because Alec would literally throw things at his head. The items weren't dangerous of course just a book or something of that source, but Jack still got bent out of shape.

"Got it," I said standing up and stretching while Luke from Jack to me. He suspected something, that look only appeased him for a moment.

Luke ended up shrugging. "Alright, see you guys soon." Luke said exiting the room with a shake of his head.

I watched him go before turning to Jack who was watching me with a smug smirk. "What?" I huffed at him. Why was he looking so pleased? Luke almost saw something that I didn't want him to see. I didn't even know what was going on anymore, my life was in shambles.

"When do I ever study?" Jack asked, the smug smirk on his face grew even larger. He thought this was great, well I didn't. We had just made things more complicated.

I rolled my eyes at him in annoyance. "I didn't see you jump in to help, so I took charge." I said looking at him with an irritated expression.

Jack's smirk widened into a grin. He thought this was funny, well of course he did because he was Jack. Jack could be serious but when it came to stuff like this it was like he couldn't help himself. He did have a nice smile though, I would give him that.

"I need to go get ready," I said, I turned towards the door and began to walk towards it.

A hand shot out and pulled me away from the door, I looked over at Jack in annoyance, but he had a smirk on his face. Jack looked like he was scheming and when Jack was scheming that didn't help anything.

Jack began to play with my blonde hair, and I knew I should tell him I had to go. I mean, this could never happen again, yet he seemed to be able to melt at his touch. I don't know how he has this power over me. I didn't understand, and it was disturbing.

I began to draw away from him, but he pressed his lips against mine. The kiss was brief, but I still tasted Jack, and smelt the fresh cut grass. Jack's lips were warm when they pressed against mine, and they felt nice. I know we couldn't do this again, but something wouldn't let me move on.

"We can't do this again," I said looking at him with a serious expression. I needed him to agree so I could put him out of my mind.

Jack just smiled at me with a smile that said bullshit. "Whatever you say darling, whatever you say." Jack said as he let me go.


	25. So It Begins

(Chapter 25)

(Ronnie's POV)

Jace had been gone for two days, and it had been miserable. Alec was an ass, Clary didn't know how to help me, Magnus kept trying to get me to sleep but I refused, and Jack kept looking at me. I didn't know what to tell Jack, we kissed and it was nice, but that didn't mean that I wanted to do it again. I mean, I did want to do it again, but I couldn't. I was dangerous, and I had a lot of personal issues I needed to work out before I added anyone else to the equation.

Right now, I was sitting in the library listening to Alec drone on. Jace still has not come back and it was obvious that Luke and the twins were antsy. Luke was antsy because Jace was his Dad, the twins were antsy because Jace is the reason they even get to stick around. It was odd, but Jace being gone didn't make me nervous it just pissed me off. Jace and Magnus were the only adults who treated me like I was human, the rest either out right hated me or didn't want to touch me even with a ten-foot pole. I needed Jace here, so I would have a reason not to burn this place down so Alec would shut up about how seraph blades were made.

All of a sudden, the library door banged open. It caused Jack, Ramon, Luke, the twins, and I to all turn our heads at once to see what was going on. Coming to us were two tall, fit women and two tall, fit men with Jace on their heels with a defeated expression on his face. It was an expression that I would learn to be terrified of, because Jace Herondale lost with dignity, showing defeat was not an option for him.

"Jace?" Alec questioned from behind me. "What's going on?" He asked him slowly as the Clave officials surrounded me.

"Rolland Morgenstern, you are under arrest by orders of the Clave for treason and conspiracy," of one of the men said. He was dark haired and had grey eyes that seemed to bore into me. "Stand up and go peacefully or don't and we'll kill you on the spot."

I sat there in silence trying to reason out my options as Jack exploded from beside me. He was trying to stand up, but Alec quickly went over and held him down. I looked down at my lap, Jace said he would protect me. He didn't protect me. He handed me over to the wolves on a silver platter and now it was either die or rot in prison. The choices weren't good. The thing was, prison you could end up escaping from, death you could not. Death was permanent and that would mean I could be stuck with my father all the time. Shit, my options really were terrible.

I looked over at Jace as the two women forced me out of my chair and bound my hands behind my back. His golden eyes were trained on me, they were full of words he couldn't say and words I did not want to say. His eyes slowly made their way off of me and over to the man who first spoke to me.

"Where will you be holding her, Whitelaw?" Jace asked him lowly, sending a sharp glare over to the twins who were whispering to each other fiercely.

The man who I presumed to be Whitelaw looked over at Jace with a smile. "Idris, the Consul has a special arrangement for her." He said nodding to the women who began to drag me along. The last thing I saw was Jack struggling against Alec and Jace with his hands in his hair.

(Jack's POV)

I was in Jace's office and I was absolutely livid. How could he let them take her? How come he didn't try to stop them? He just stood there like an idiot as they drug her away. Jace never lets the Clave get away with anything that he doesn't like. Did he want her to be dragged away? Was he just done?

Jace had sent me in here "to calm down" as he put it because I did try to tear Luke apart when he high fived Ramon. Ronnie Morgenstern was complicated, but I don't think it was okay to be excited that she was being arrested and being drug to Idris for them to do Angel knows what to her. How could anyone send another human being into a place where they knew they would be defenseless? I mean, with an army they have guns. Ronnie? She was a prisoner of war from a war she didn't even want to fight in. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right.

Jace came into the office with a worn and weary look on his face. He looked exhausted like he had fought eighty wars just that day. I had never seen Jace Herondale like this. I didn't want to drop the subject of Ronnie but just seeing Jace made me worry. Jace was like a father to me and there was something alarming about a boy seeing his father near a break down.

Jace sat down in his office chair before looking at me. He ran a hand through his messy, golden hair before straightening up. "Let's have it Jack, I want to hear how pissed you are with me." Jace said simply as he adjusted the picture of Luke with Tessa on his desk.

I really wanted to curse Jace out, but the way he was feeling right now? It was the exact same way I was feeling. We both cared about Ronnie, in different ways but we were the two people who wanted to fight for her. I knew that we had to work as a team. I was angry, but we had bigger fish to fry.

"I'm pissed at you Jace, but I think we're pissed for the same reason." I said with a shrug of my shoulders as I leaned back in my chair.

Jace's face formed one of complete surprise. He did not expect that to come out of my mouth. It was kind of fair, I was a wild card with behavioral issues. That's how the twins ended up here, but they were not angry like I was. The twins just wanted to go through life laughing and messing with people. I just wanted to tear everything apart. Really, the Clave should have arrested me, I'm more likely to burn down the world than Ronnie.

"Who are you and what have you done with Jack Penhallow?" Jace chuckled as he reached into his drawer and pulled out a journal and a pencil for himself. Jace did this sometimes, I think it helped him not punch walls.

I rolled my eyes at his comment. "We both care about her. We both want her back. I think, I can get over my anger for this one." I said my green eyes flickering to the paper where Jace began to write something down. It looked like a journal entry, something that wasn't for my eyes.

After Jace dated the journal and wrote a sentence or two of summary for the events of the last few days he snapped it shut. He cleared his throat as he thought about his next phrase. "You know, I was only supposed to be in Idris for a few hours but that turned into two days. Do you know why?" Jace asked me, and I shook my head. I did not know why and I wasn't sure I wanted to know why. "Because they were voting to strip Ronnie of her marks and then kill her. They wanted to make it painful. The only way I saved her was that I told them everything." Jace said looking down with a shake of his head. "That made them want to kill her more, but I talked them down to just imprisonment for now. I did not know they were holding her in Idris."

I took this in with a sharp intake of breath, this was not good. The Clave was scared. They didn't know what to do with the prospect of having Sebastian Morgenstern come back from the dead.

(Ronnie's POV)

Everything hurt, and I mean everything. My body felt like it was on fire because it was. The Clave had locked me in this special sort of cell that was heavily warded. If I even got close to the bars my body felt like it was going to explode, not like I could even move anyway. The Clave had me chained by an ankle against the wall, they really were afraid of me. I had spent the night here and it was a constant battle between me and different members of the Clave. They thought I could reach out to Sebastian willingly and I was just refusing, so they were making things hard for me.

I had been beaten and bloodied. They had injected me with some chemical and drew runes on my body. This lasted through most of the night, it was almost morning now. I could tell because there was a little window at the top of my cell and I could see some light starting to filter through. The Clave members, who I don't remember their names, gender, or really anything because I blacked out through a lot of the beating, had left a couple of hours ago. I guess they wanted me to lick my wounds.

I was so tired and thirsty, but I just couldn't close my eyes. If I closed my eyes I might not wake up or I would see Sebastian, both options sucked. I was not going to do either option. I would stay awake until my body just completely ran out of steam and it forcefully shut down. I didn't understand why Jace would let them take me. I didn't do anything. I literally was just living my life as best as I could with my father whispering into my ear.

I leaned against the wall when a figure appeared right in front of me and speak of the devil, it was my father. He had a cocky smirk on his face as he sat down across from me and a twinkling in his black eyes. It was almost as if he was planning something, and I don't know what is worse. The Clave torturing me or Sebastian torturing me.

"You are a mess." Sebastian said watching me with clear disapproval written on his face. He seemed to be disappointed that his offspring had been beaten to a bloody pulp. Well, boo fucking who. "It is sad really, that you didn't want to see your father so bad that you let them beat you until you blacked out."

Sebastian reached out to touch my face, it almost seemed like a caring gesture. I knew better though. It wasn't caring, he was trying to size me up to see if I could take anymore. I wasn't about to fall for his father of the year act. I had seen multiple sides of Sebastian in the little time I have known him, and none of them screamed caring father.

I flinched away from his hand and watched as he retracted it. "Last time we saw each other, you took a whip to my back." I said simply with a shake of my head. "Do you think I would want to see you after that?"

Sebastian snorted with a roll of his eyes. "That's what this is all about? Seriously? Lillith did a more terrible job then I thought with toughening you up." Sebastian shook his head and made a disapproving noise. "I was looking for a solider who could do the hard things, not a weak little girl."

A scowl came onto my face in annoyance, how dare he call me weak. He hadn't been there since day one, no, genius got himself stuck in hell. He had no right to call me weak. "I am not weak!" I snapped at him, my dark eyes narrowed into slits. "You have no idea what I have been through."

Sebastian snorted again, he gave me a condescending look. "You caved from just a few touches of a whip. You are weak. You would have never survived what your grandfather did to me." Sebastian said, his eyes tearing into me. "You had a fine life with Lillith. Jace is making you soft and so is that boy. What is his name? Jack?" Sebastian asked me, his eyes growing maniacal. I made sure my expression was clear, I could not let him see my complicated feelings for Jack Penhallow. "He'll be the first to die when I make my return."

"You will never return," I said simply looking up at him with my dark eyes watching him carefully. "I won't help you. You have no one else who will."

Sebastian laughed lightly looking down at me. "You maybe surprised Rolland, but people all around you support me. You just can't see them because you see what I want you to see. I control you," Sebastian laughed with a gleefully crazy expression in his eyes. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

I looked down at my lap, at my foot chained down with runes on the chain that burned if I moved too much. I then looked up at him. "We'll just see about that." I told him and I watched him disappear with a daring look on his face.

I knew one thing for sure, I was not going to let Sebastian come back from hell. I was not going to let him rip the world apart to rebuild it in his own image. I am done playing games. I heard footsteps coming towards my cell and I tried to relax my body. I was going to have to go through another round of torture.


	26. Damage Control

**Pretty short and not so great chapter but it had to be done to move the story along. So hope you guys will stick around for the next one, I promise it will be better. :) Lola**

(Chapter 26)

(Ronnie's POV)

"I'm going to ask you again," Consul Penhallow boomed as she thundered around the cell, her eyes watching me with distaste. "What are you planning with Sebastian Morgenstern?"

I sighed, we had been at this for hours. I had been beaten to a bloody pulp for my cheek and for not giving the answers the Consul wanted to hear. Did I know what Sebastian was planning? No, and I didn't want to. Was on his team? No, I was not if I was on his team he would be back by now. Why couldn't those thick skulled Clave Nazis get that through their heads?

Also, why the hell hasn't Jace come to try to fix this. It has been at least three or four days, but yet there was no Jace. Did he really think I was that dangerous that I would bring Sebastian back and help him? Who was I kidding? He probably did. I mean, everyone thought I was the devils spawn which I was, but I was nothing like the devil. I didn't want to burn down the world, I just wanted to be left alone at this point.

"And I'm going to tell you again," I said giving her a bloody smile. "You can go to hell because I have no idea." I said preparing for another blow to the face or somewhere else on my body.

The Consul looked over at the other shadowhunter who was in the room. He was a tall, buff man who had become my personal torturer. Every time I didn't answer the Consul's question in the exact way she wanted he would hit me or inject me with something that made my whole body burn up.

He took a step towards me with his steely grey eyes locked on me. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a syringe and I began to fight against the cool metal chair that I was chained against. I preferred for him to hit me, it hurt a lot less than whatever the hell they injected me with. He got to me and painfully grabbed my jaw as he roughly stuck the needle into me and let the liquid run through my blood stream.

It took about a minute before the agonizing pains came through out my body. It felt as if I was being burned alive from the tip of my toe to the top of my head. A scream was torn my throat as tears pricked at the back of my eyes. I glared at the Consul as I tried not to let her get the satisfaction of knowing that what she was doing was indeed hurting me.

"This all could be over," Consul Penhallow spoke over my heavy breathing and grunts of pain. "All you have to do is tell the truth."

Through my pain, I heard the running of footsteps coming from outside the cell. Two figures appeared at the front of the cell. My eyes were blinded with tears but I could clearly hear the words that were said. "He's back, and not because of her."

(Jace's POV)

Sebastian was back. How? No one knows but he is back, and he is ready to pick up where he left off. No one knows where he is hiding but it's probably with the fae. At least that's the thought because the farefolk have just declared war on the Clave. I had left Clary under the care of Alec, Isabelle, and Simon because she was so distraught. I couldn't exactly blame her, our children were in danger and her brother was back with plans to lay waste to everything.

The only good thing that came out of this was that Ronnie's name was cleared. It was what led me in front of her cell with another Clave official and hearing the screams that came out of her throat as the Consul tried to burn out the demon blood.

"No, he is not." She said lowly, her face becoming pale as she looked back at Ronnie. "He cannot be back, only she could bring him back." She said gesturing to Ronnie who was trying to keep from screaming.

"Alyah," I said looking at her with a shake of my head. "The farefolk have declared war with a claim they have a new leader." I said looking past her at Ronnie. "You have been putting your attention in the wrong direction. So, I am taking Ronnie home, I think you have done enough damage to an innocent girl." I said throwing open the cell door and walking over to Ronnie.

"J…Jace?" Ronnie stammered out as she arched her back as if trying to get the burning pain to go down.

"It's Uncle Jace," I corrected her as I produced my Steele and began to de-rune the chains that had Ronnie bound to a chair.

I made quick work of the chains and I scooped her up in my arms as I carried her out of the cell past the Consul and her partner and past the Clave official. I looked down at the blonde girl who had her eyes shut tightly as if trying not to let me see her in pain.

It was at times like this when I mentally kick myself. If I only raised her as my own, maybe all of this would be different. I know should would have never been interrogated by the Clave in such a harsh manner. I know she would have been raised in a place where she was loved and not hated or trained to be some sort of machine. I wish I could change things for her but I can't. What done is done and we all have to live with it.

"You're going to be okay." I said as I carried her. I knew a place we could go that was safe in Idris. Magnus had a place around here, she would be safe there until she was healed up enough to go home. I wasn't sure how much damage they actually did to her. They only had her for a week or so, but that was enough time for the unfeeling idiots of the Clave to do some lasting damage.


	27. Dad's Journal

**Hey guys :) It's been a long while. I got some inspiration and decided to write a chapter. Idk if I will write one again soon because of time, but I wanted to write one. I love Ronnie and her dynamic in the family. Enjoy -Lola**

(Ronnie's POV)

It had been two weeks since I had gotten back from my little vacation with the Clave. Two weeks since the Consul had signed the papers that said I was innocent. Two weeks since Enoch was written in blood on the Institute door. Two weeks since the Clave had moved all the New York Institute's occupants to the Herondale mansion that had never been used. Two weeks since Ramon declared he was going to kill me. I wasn't dead yet.

I was in a constant state of being awake. I didn't sleep. I didn't let myself sleep, and if I slept it was only for a short time and I forced Jace to sit by my bed and watch me. I handed him my sword and told him if I looked like or said anything about bringing Sebastian back he was to slit my throat. He agreed, but I think it was only to appease me. I don't think he would actually do it. That's why I told Luke to, he had a monitor in his room and one in mine that I had on only when I was asleep. Both of the monitors had to be on for the system to work. I was not going to let that son of a bitch manage to get inside my head and destroy me.

The Herondale mansion was not a bad place to land. On the outside where towering pillars that held up the blue cement walls. Inside there were multiple rooms that were very spacious and spread out through four or five different floors all separated by a marble staircase. On the first floor, there was the kitchen, living room, and access to the backyard that had a small pond in it. The second floor were the first set of bedrooms. Isabelle and Simon had taken one, Ramon had his own room, and James had his own as well. On the second floor there was also a sitting room that Simon had created into a little TV room. I think more for his sanity.

On the third floor were the next set of bedrooms as well as a training room. Alec and Magnus took one of the rooms, David had his own room, Daniel had his own room, and Jack had his own room. Alec wasn't exactly pleased with the arrangement, he claimed it wasn't fair he had to babysit the drop outs. Ramon merely reminded him at least I wasn't there. It did shut Alec up, and the promise that he could just lock the kids in the training room also helped.

The fourth floor was probably the most secure and I think that's why I was put on it. The hallway was narrow and there were only rooms. It was probably the smallest floor, but it did have roof access. Jace had forbidden any of us to touch it. He said if we went on the roof he would have us sleeping on his floor.

Luke was in the room across from mine and he was next door to Tessa. Jace and Clary were in the room next to mine, and they had access to my room. It still wasn't enough though. I was dangerous. I was a ticking time bomb that was going to lure Sebastian here. I wanted Jace to lock me in the basement. He refused.

Right now, it was two in the morning and I was still awake. I was sitting on my bed with my feet curled up into me. My room wasn't big. There was just the queen sized bed, a two by two en-suite bathroom, a dresser, and a nightstand. I had the lamp shining a light in my little room and a book propped up on my lap. I had been like this for hours.

The door to my room swung open and in walked Jace. He had bags under his eyes and was dragging an armchair into the room to sit by my bedside. I watched as he kicked the door shut and I came to a sitting position in my gear clothes. I hadn't even bothered to put on night clothing. 

"You know, if you don't start sleeping willingly, I'm going to draw a sleep rune on you." Jace said as he took a seat in the armchair with a tired expression on his face.

This whole Sebastian thing had really taken a toll on Jace. He didn't let the others see, because they only saw him in the day. I saw him at night. Clary did too, she saw what I saw, and she knew as well as I did that Jace was not fine. So, did Alec he could feel his parabatai's stress. Jace put on a show for the good of everyone else.

"I'll cut the act when you do." I said as I looked back at my book and turned the page. Jace knew exactly what I was talking about. I would admit I wasn't fine if he admitted the same.

Jace snorted as if it didn't bug him. He knew he wasn't fine, but he didn't care. Not while Sebastian was out there. The consequences could come later. What mattered was he had a monster to hunt.

"The question is," Jace spoke as he leaned across to look at what I was reading. "Who will break first, you or me?" Jace said as he snatched Sebastian's journal out of my grasp. "You have a very strong will, but so do I, and I'm older. Yet, your youth could help you. What won't help you," Jace said holding the journal out of my reach as I tried to get it back. "Is this. Why in Raziel's name do you keep pouring over it? I swear, every night I hide it. And every night you find it."

I glared at him, my black eyes watching his golden ones as they raised at me in a challenge. The message was clear, 'you think you can beat me? Go ahead.', and Jace knew I was in no shape to fight him at this hour.

"It helps me to think," I told Jace, and he leaned back as if to tell me to elaborate. "About him. I always wanted to meet him, you know? I wanted to meet this great man my mo-Lillith kept talking about." I said with a sigh as I ran a hand over my blonde braid. I kept having to catch myself when I spoke about Lillith. She was not my Mother, so I couldn't call her that. "It turns out he's not that great. I guess I was hoping that their might be something to like or something to hope for. But all that's in there," I pointed to the journal with a shake of my head. "Is rage. How can someone be so angry?"

Jace sighed, it was almost as if he felt sorry for me. I didn't want him to be. I was telling him this because I wanted the journal and usually, if I gave Jace a reason for why I wanted something, he would let me have it. I had to talk about my feelings though and go into details which wasn't fun for me and I imagine it wasn't fun for Jace.

"I always found it strange," Jace spoke as he rested his hands on his lap. "How wildly different you two are." He said with confidence. It was as if he could see right through me, as if he could see my greatest fear. Maybe he knew something about being afraid to become the thing your father was.

"You see," Jace went on without a care if I was fully engaged or not. "Sebastian was selfish. He was driven by the need for revenge and rage. The two together made him into a psychopath who had no care in the world. Add in the demon blood and you have someone capable of burning down the world and who had the desire to." Jace explained with a shrug as if it made sense to him. How did this make sense to him?

"With you," Jace said unwilling to let me stop him from saying what he needed to say. "You're driven by anger, but it's not rage. You're angry from what they took from you. You're angry they turned you into a solider, who had no freewill, but you don't want revenge. Any normal person would, but you're not normal." Jace casually leaned himself back in the armchair as he made himself comfortable. "You're driven by the desire to be wanted and to have the truth. You have demon blood in you, but it doesn't twist you in the same way it did Sebastian."

I sucked in a breath, I was done with Jace getting inside my head. He had a nautral ability to do that, and I think that's because we're so similar. Jace and I understood each other for better or for worse.

"Are you done analyzing me?" I asked Jace cooly as I reached for the journal that Jace had left on the arm of the chair. Jace, of course, was faster and blocked my reach. He grabbed the journal and held it tightly in my hand.

"Just about," Jace replied with a cheeky smirk, but then sighed seeing my expression was anything but amused. "Listen," he said, his tone full of seriousness and vulnerability. "You are not like him. Obsessing over this journal? Reading it cover to cover every night? It's not healthy. Sebastian did some messed up shit and he cataloged it very clearly." He said running a hand through his hair.

"The first night I heard about you?" Jace said as he looked at me, and I tensed because he was getting personal. Jace never did that. I was always the one who had to get personal. "I reread Sebastian's journal. I stayed up until dawn reading it, I got through it twice. The first time, I had to throw up." He said looking at me clearly. "I hadn't read it in years. I used to read it all the time, when I found out Clary was pregnant that was the first thing I did after I went to bed. I was so worried I was going to be like Valentine. I was worried Luke was going to be like Sebastian.

"After I reread it the night I heard about you, I knew why I kept that journal hidden. I should have never given it to you because you obsess over it just like I did for years. I was so afraid the monster was going to be one my kids or me. I lived in Sebastian's head for a long time, and it's not a great place to be.

"So, I'm going to take this journal and keep it. You're not going to look for it. You're going to stop thinking about it. You're going to try to be as normal as you can be with a war on the way that you're in the center of." Jace finished his lecture as he stood up. "And you're going to sleep." 

He turned to leave the room and to leave the armchair. "Why did you burn it?" I called out to Jace causing him to pause and turn to me. "If you thought it was so bad why didn't you burn it."

Jace simply shrugged. "I couldn't bring myself to do it. I thought I needed it to protect my family. It also helped bring some closure and a reminder that I was nothing like him." Jace said as he looked me in the eye. "One day you can have this back, but for now? You don't need it, you are not ready for the weight. I really didn't want to let you keep that ring." He said gesturing to the one around my neck. "But that's not my choice. This is."

I shook my head. I had already read the journal, why was he just taking it now. "This isn't your choice." I corrected him about the journal. "It's my choice, it's my life, and it's my family. This is MY mess. Not yours, you may have gotten the starring role in the last war but it's my turn now." I corrected him with a glare of my black eyes.

If my words affected Jace, he didn't let me see it. That's how I knew I got under his skin. "You're in my custody and you're not eighteen. It is my choice. So, get some sleep." Jace said going over to the door to leave. "I'm serious about that sleeping rune. And I'm serious about no longer sitting by your bed side and I took the monitors out of Luke's room. We're going to talk about ALL," Jace gestured around him for emphasis. "At a reasonable hour. Now go to bed." He said before shutting the door.


End file.
